<<

LOST IN TIME -179-

LOST IN TIME: THE OTHER DAUGHTER OF HAMELIN DE BALLON by Rosie Bevan 1

ABSTRACT J Horace Round’s 1901 study of the descendants of Hamelin de Ballon, Lord of resulted in a documented pedigree from Hamelin’s daughter and heiress, Emmeline, which has met with general acceptance to this day2. However, recently published fines for have revealed that Hamelin had another daughter and heiress, whose existence is barely traceable in medieval record. Her modern day descendants arise from English families such as Wortley of Wortley, Wentworth of Woodhouse and Hazlerigg of Noseley, and are legion. This article attempts to investigate her existence and trace some of her progeny, as well as augment the genealogy of the Ballon family as originally developed by Round.

Foundations (2010) 3 (3): 179-215 © Copyright FMGand the author

In 1901 Round published a detailed history of the Ballon family3 correcting the longstanding errors perpetuated by the Historia Fundationis cum Fundatoris Genealogia of Abergavenny priory, published by Dugdale in his Monasticon Anglicanum,4 an account which gave that Hamelin de Ballon, baron of Abergavenny founded Abergavenny priory in the late 11th century, but that he had died without issue and his lands passed to Brien fitz Count, son of his sister Lucy. The fictional family account was repeated by Dugdale not only in his Monasticon Anglicanum but also in The Baronage of England, from which his extraordinary account of the family gained currency as fact.5 This article enlarges on Round’s account of the Ballon family, documenting the male line from the eldest daughter into the fourteenth century, and tracing descendants of his younger daughter to the present day.

1 Contact details: [email protected] 2 G E Cokayne, CP (1910-1959), 1:19-20; Sanders, I J, English Baronies : a study of their origin and descent 1086-1327 (1960), 66; and more recently by K S B Keats-Rohan, Domesday Descendants, a prosopography of persons occurring in English documents 1066- 1166 (2002), 302. 3 J Horace Round, Studies in Peerage and Family History (1901), 181-215. The name Ballon also appears in contemporary record as Baladon, Baalun, Baalon, Balun, Badalon, Balaon etc. 4 William Dugdale, ed., Monasticon Anglicanum (1817-30), IV, 615. The 13th century account gives that Hamelin had three sisters, Emma, Lucy, Countess de Insula, and Beatrice, and on his death without issue, his heir was his nephew, Brian “filio comitis de Insula”, who held it during the reign of William Rufus. On taking the cross he went on crusade to Jerusalem and relinquished his estate to his cousin Walter the Constable (Walter de Gloucester, son of Roger de Pitres), from whence it passed to Philip de Braose by inheritance. It seems this piece of monastic fiction may have been designed to claim baronial tenure of Abergavenny by hereditary right. 5 William Dugdale, The Baronage of England (1675), 1:435. Dugdale’s account was dismissed by Round in his usual inimitable way, “It would be difficult to pack more errors into so small a space…” -180- LOST IN TIME

Fig 1. St Mary’s Priory, Abergavenny The priory was founded in the early 12th century by Hamelin de Ballon. Following the dissolution, the priory church of St Mary continued in use as a parish church. [http://www.stmarys-priory.org/history.htm ] Photographed by the author, 2005. LOST IN TIME -181-

Hamelin de Ballon In 1093, on the death of Rhys ap Tewdwr, king in Deheubarth, William Rufus turned his attention to the continuing Norman colonization of south east by conquest. The onslaught, led by the earls of Chester and Shrewsbury, focused on the lower Usk valley in , to where Rufus placed Winebald de Ballon as lord, and then to Abergavenny, situated at the strategically important junction of the rivers Usk and Gavenni, where an outcrop of rock commanded views over the surrounding countryside and important trade routes. At this consolidated stronghold Rufus placed Winebald’s brother, Hamelin, (who built a of motte and bailey construction there) and gave him the surrounding region in Netherwent, as well as manorial properties in Gloucestershire and .6 According to an account by the monks of the of St. Vincent, Hamelin and Winebald originated from Ballon, Maine,7 and while nothing more is known about their ancestry, family ties indicate they were men with important connections. These included kinship with the Chaworth family and Ernulf de Hesdin, possibly through Ernulf’s wife, Emmeline, for in 1100 Patrick de Chaworth made a gift to the priory of St Peter at Bath of 5 hides in Weston with the church and tithes. These were specifically made for the souls of king William (Rufus) and his parents, king Henry, Patrick himself and his wife (Maud de Hesdin), Hamelin and Winebald de Ballon, and Arnulf de Hesdin, his deceased father-in-law, who had held Weston before him. Hamelin and Winebald head the list of witnesses of the charter, and also witnessed Henry I’s confirmation charter of this grant.8 Chronology might suggest Emmeline, wife of Arnulph de Hesdin, was sister of the Ballon brothers, and in support of

6 David Crouch, “The Transformation of Medieval Gwent,” in The Gwent County History: vol. 2, the Age of the Marcher Lords, c. 1070-1536. ed. Ralph A Griffiths et al., (2008), 1-18. 7 “Notification that Hamelin born at Ballon (de castello Baladone natus) a noble and most prudent man, endowed with most ample gifts and honours, for his industry, by William king of the English, son of the most wealthy king William, came to the abbey of St. Vincent and St. Lawrence, and sought [admission to] the benefits of the place, begging that, for love of him, the monks would receive Hubert, a knight of his, into the . At whose earnest entreaty they received that knight into their order, for love of him, and also consented to make [Hamelin] himself with his wife and his sons, and a knight of his, Odo de Tirun, who was with him, partaker in all the benefits [of their order]. And Hamelin gave them the chapel of his castle, which the above glorious king had given him, which in the British tongue they call ‘Bergevenis,’ and all the appurtenances present and future of its church and in the castle (sic); and land for making a principal church in which they should serve God, and land for their own dwellings, and gardens, and orchards, and vineyards, and all things necessary, a bourg also and an oven of their own, with water for a mill, and fishing in his waters wherever their men would fish. He also gave elsewhere one church with all its appurtenances, and land for ten ploughs, and all the tithes of the ploughs he had or might have in demesne. All this he gave as freely as he held it of the king, and he placed his gift on the altar. He promised also that he would make the king agree to (annuere) this and confirm the charter, and would help them [to induce] his knights similarly to grant (annuerent) their tithes.” J H Round, Calendar of Documents Preserved in France: 918-1206 (1899), 367-369. 8 “.. pro anima Willelmi regis patris ejus matrisque Mathildis reginae ac fratris ipsius Henrici regis cujus assensu actum est et pro animabus omnium tam predecessorum quam successorum ejus seu et pro anima mea et uxoris ac liberorum meorum animabus pro animabus etiam Hamelini et Winebaldi de Baalun elemosinae hujus fautorum et adhortatorum ac pro animabus Arnulfi de Hesding qui predictam terram ante me tenuit et Warini clerici mei insuper et pro animabus omnium antecessorum ac posterorum meorum Pro supradicta autem elemosina in perpetuum memoriale donationis meae monachum unum fratrum numero adjici a domino Johanne episcopo precibus obtinui pro anima regis Willelmi deum deprecaturum Cujus rei testes sunt Hamelinus et Winebaldus de Baalun…”. William Hunt, ed., Two Chartularies of the Priory of St. Peter at Bath (1893), 104. The three men are also grouped together in a 1101 confirmation charter made at Windsor by Henry I of his predecessor’s gifts to Bath. William Hunt op.cit. (1893), 44-46. -182- LOST IN TIME theoretical Ballon ancestry is the fact that her grandson son, Pain de Chaworth, gave land in the parish of St. Medard in Ballon to the abbey of Le Mans in 1167.9 Winebald de Ballon was already established in England by 1092, by which time he had granted to Bermondsey Priory the manor of Bridesthorn, half the manor of Upton, , as well as tithes in his manor of Eastington, and ten shillings from his mill at Sutton in Gloucestershire.10 As well as the at Caerleon worth 16 ¼ knights’ fees William Rufus gave Winebald the lands of fitz Rolf, who died during the Welsh uprising in 1096, which included South Cadbury, . The fact that Winebald is known as holding land in Eastington, before Hamelin obtained it, would suggest that he granted his holdings to Hamelin as tenant, who held them thereafter and this is borne out by the descent of the overlordship of this estate.11 Hamelin founded St Mary’s priory in Abergavenny as a cell of St Vincent of Le Mans and endowed it with the churches of Great Cheverell, Great Sutton, the chapel of Abergavenny castle, and the tithes from churches in Over Gwent.12 These churches have since been identified as those of Llangatwg Lingoed, Llanddewi Rhydderch, Llanelen, and Pen-rhos, the last of which possessed a monastic grange.13 Hamelin was also benefactor of St Saviour, Bermondsey, to which he granted a 10 shilling tithe from Eastington.14 Hamelin’s whole fief must have been worth more than 14 knight’s fees in total, for the barony of Abergavenny alone was later assessed at 12 fees in 1230 while Sutton

9 J H Round, Calendar of Documents Preserved in France (1899), 359-371. 10 William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum (1825), V: 86. The gift was confirmed by William II between 1093 and 1097. H W C Davis, ed. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1066-1154 (1913), I, 101. 11 Winebald was still living in 1128 and although he had at least two sons, Roger and Milo, his eventual successors were by his daughter Mabel, wife of William de Neufmarche. Winebald’s son Roger appears to have lost Caerleon to Morgan ap Owain shortly before 1136. Paul Courteney, “The Marcher Lordships: Origins, Descent and organization,” in The Gwent County History: vol. 2, the Age of the Marcher Lords, c. 1070-1536. ed. Ralph A Griffiths et al., (2008), 50. Henry de Neufmarche held South Cadbury by 1166, but died in 1204 without issue, leaving his brother, James, his heir. The latter’s heirs were daughters Isabel, wife of Ralph Russell, and Hawise wife of John Botreaux, then Nicholas de Moeles, whose tenant in Eastington in 1235/6 was the widow of John de Ballon. I J Sanders, English Baronies (1960), 68; H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Book of Fees (1920), 439. 12 “Charter of Hamelin de Baladone, giving to the abbey of St. Vincent and St. Lawrence near the walls of Le Mans, from the subsistence with which he has been endowed by his lords William and Henry kings of the English, in England and Wales, all the tithes of all Wennescoit, both of his own [demesne] and of all the lands which he has given or may give [in fee]. He also gives his castle called Abergavenny (Berguevenis). He gives the church and chapel of the castle and land for making a bourg, with all dues, except the toll on market-day; land also for one plough.… and between.… water for a fishery.… the church of St. Helen and part of the wood. He also gives the tithe of all his honey and the tithe of skins from his hunting, and the tithe of the pannage of swine. In England (Anglica terra) he gives the church of Caprcolum with the priest's land and all tithes belonging to the church, and the tithe of cheeses and of all first fruits (primitiarum). He also gives the church of Luton (sic – probably Sutton) after the death of the priest, with the priest's land and all tithes and first fruits belonging to the church.” Round, op.cit. (1899), 367-369. Henry I confirmed these gifts in a charter witnessed by Hamelin, Agnes his wife, and his two sons, William and Matthew. C Johnson, ed. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum (1956), II, no. 800. 13 David Crouch, op.cit. (2008), 17. 14 C Johnson, Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum (1956), no.1990. LOST IN TIME -183- and Great Cheverell were assessed at one knight’s fee each.15 Much Marcle, , was never part of the original grant, but Round noted that it must have been given to Hamelin’s descendants by the Crown before 1135 as his carta of 1166 records it as held of the “old feoffment”, and was thereafter considered the caput of the Ballon barony despite the fact it spent much of the time out of Ballon ownership during the reigns of kings Henry, Richard and John.16 Much Marcle was a substantial manorial property and had been in the king’s demesne worth £30 annually at Domesday.17

Emmeline de Ballon The last record of Hamelin occurs in 1103 when Henry I confirmed his gift to St Vincent, which Hamelin witnessed. Although he appears to have had two sons, William and Matthew, who attested the confirmation charter by Henry I of Hamelin’s gift, they had probably died without succeeding issue, for Round established that Hamelin’s eventual successor to the fief was his daughter, Emmeline. She was wife of Reginald, younger son of Roger de Breteuil earl of Hereford (1071-1075), lord of Netherwent, and grandson of William fitz Osbern, close friend and advisor of William the Conqueror.18 Round discovered her existence and marriage in a charter of gift by Reginald of the manor of Eaton near Cricklade, Wiltshire, to the nunnery of Godstow, . The charter includes the names of their three sons - William, Reginald and Hamelin - and two daughters, Agnes and Juliana, being party to the gift.19 The family continued to account for the fee as appears by an entry in the Rotuli Hundredorum in the reign of Edward I in which John de Balun held Eaton “ad baron’ suam”.20 Reginald appears to have brought the manor of Alvington, then part of Herefordshire, to the marriage, for Reginald’s sons William and Reginald successively claimed its overlordship until the latter quitclaimed his right to Llanthony priory.21

William de Ballon The eldest son, William, had succeeded his father, Reginald, by 1166 when his carta stated that he was holding the fief of Hamelin de Ballon, his grandfather (“avus suus”), but that Great Cheverell and the honour of Abergavenny were in the king’s

15 William de Braose was charged on 12 fees for Abergavenny. Sanders op.cit. (1963), 21. 16 H Hall ed., Red Book of the Exchequer (1896), 281. 17 V H Galbraith and James Tait, ed. Herefordshire Domesday (1950) (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 63), 8. 18 This Earl’s estates were forfeited in 1075 due to his involvement in the plot to overthrow King William, conspired with his brother-in-law, Ralph de Gael, earl of Norfolk. Roger’s sons never regained their father’s lands, but nevertheless the Ballon family inherited some illustrious Norman ancestry from this marriage via Ralph de Ivry uterine half brother of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, and also the Tosny family. See Peter Stewart Origin and Early Generations of the Tosny Family, 2009 at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/17369367/Origin-and-Early-Generations-of-the-Tosny-Family 19 Andrew Clark, ed. The English register of Godstow Nunnery, near Oxford. Part 1 (1905), 629- 631. The charter, dated around 1142, was confirmed by King Stephen in the tenth year of his reign (1145). Eton is variously called Water-eaton, West-eton, Nuns-eton, Eton-mynchons in the cartulary to distinguish it from the adjacent Castle Eaton. 20 The abbess of Godstow was said to be holding the manor of John de Ballon in perpetuity, except it was not known in which way it had been alienated. Rotuli Hundredorum, 271. 21 VCH Gloucestershire, 5, 7. -184- LOST IN TIME hands.22 While the former was eventually restored by the early 1200s, Abergavenny appears to have been lost to the family sometime between 1103 and 1119, passing through a succession of owners in the next hundred years.23 The reason for the loss is unknown, but may have occurred around 1107 as a result of the struggle between Henry I and his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, for the English crown. William Rufus and Robert Curthose had made a pact between them, making each other heir to their possessions to the exclusion of Henry, their younger brother. As followers of Rufus, Ballon loyalty may have been in question during the conflict between Henry and Robert. More likely, there may have been a part-exchange, whereby Much Marcle was given by Henry I to the Ballon successors, as well as the promise of other manors of equivalent value, in exchange for Abergavenny. The fact that Much Marcle, which had previously been in the king’s demesne, appeared as the new caput of the fee would tend to favour this theory, particularly as there is another instance where a similar exchange of Welsh land took place. Henry I exchanged the lordship of Gwynllwg (which he gave to his illegitimate son Robert of Gloucester when he made him lord of Glamorgan) with Robert de la Haye for the lordship of Brattleby in .24 Whether it was an issue of loyalty or lack of military ability to hold the castle against the Welsh, or a simple exchange, the loss of the lordship of Abergavenny could only have been a severe blow to the status of the Ballon family and their position amongst the Marcher lords. Despite this, they appear to have maintained their presence amongst high ranking families, perhaps in the hope and expectation that Abergavenny would one day be returned to them as of right. This hope was not extinguished a century later, as will be revealed further.

Reginald de Ballon William, son of Reginald de Breteuil, had died without issue by 1175 when his brother, who referred to himself as Reginald de Ballon, was already lord of the barony. He confirmed his parent’s gift of the manor of Eaton to Godstow, which he said had been held by his grandfather Hamelin de Ballon.25 Like his brother, Reginald struggled to grip on Great Cheverell, the farm of which appears to have been in the hands of Robert de Boveincourt in 1189 for £18 per annum.26 A year later, presumably on Robert’s death, Reginald offered king Richard 20 marks to have the right to Cheverell but fell victim of the king’s unscrupulous revenue raising methods and was outbid by Guy de Boveincourt who proferred £40 to have seisin.27 Perhaps as evidence of a family connection, Reginald stood as pledge for £10 for Walter de Cormeilles, Lord of Tarrington (d.1203) and his heirs in a debt to Simon a Jew, the debt not being paid off in full until 1220.28 Reginald died in 1203 and was succeeded by his son and heir, John de Ballon, who was then an adult and proferred

22 Hubert Hall. Red Book of the Exchequer (1896), 281. 23 G E Cokayne, CP (1910) 1:20-22. 24 The exchange was consolidated by marriage to Muriel, the heiress of Brattleby. 25 Andrew Clark, op.cit. (1905), 631. 26 John Alexander Jackson, Pipe Roll 1 Richard I; a partial translation, database and statistical review. (PhD diss., Appalachian State University, 1999) 133. 27 Doris Stenton, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Second Year of the Reign of King Richard I (1925) (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 39) 121,122. 28 J M Rigg, ed., Calendar of the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews (1905), 1, 33. LOST IN TIME -185-

100 pounds to have the lands of Reginald de Ballon, his father.29 The amount demanded as relief shows that the fief was still considered a barony despite its diminution.

John de Ballon John de Ballon initially remained loyal to king John, presumably in the hope of regaining his lands, but this came at a price. In 1210 he owed 100 pounds to have the custody of the land which belonged to Richard de Neville, who held the farm of Great Cheverell, until the majority of his heirs.30 In 1211 he was sued for dower (along with Thomas Ballon who held a few acres of land) in Much Marcle by Margery widow of Dobin.31 For most of his tenure John would be repeatedly summoned to the king’s court by Nicholas de Limesey, his wife Margery, and her two sisters for settlement of lands in Much Marcle, Great Cheverell, and Great Sutton, but his stalling tactics, as in one of 1220 in which he claimed illness, or that he did not hold the land in question, hindered resolution of their claims.32 In 1211 John was recorded holding a fee in Herefordshire which William fitz Reginald once held, which must refer to Much Marcle and his uncle, William de Ballon son of Reginald de Breteuil.33 John accompanied King John to Ireland in 1214, but his estates became forfeit as a consequence of his part in the baronial revolt in July 1216, with Much Marcle and Great Cheverell given to Peter de Bosco, and Sutton given to Nicholas de Limesey.34 He returned to the king’s allegiance, and was restored to his lands in June 1217, but being unable to pay the fine of 1210 for his lands in Great Cheverell, which Richard de Neville had held, they were taken up into the young king Henry’s hands in June 1218, and committed into the custody of James de Potterne.35 John continued in a faithful career in the service of Henry III, and attested his confirmation of the Magna Carta in 1225, as well as serving as a justice in eyre in Gloucestershire in 1226.36 In 1227 the party of Limesey et al finally found satisfaction at law in the form of two final concords, which will be outlined below. John’s wife and probable mother of his children may have been named Maud. The Hundred Rolls of 1276 record that the prior of Canonsleigh had received 14 shillings annual rent and held 60 and 10 acres of land in the manor of Wellcombe in , held of the king in chief in perpetuity, for the soul of Lady Maud de Balun, for the previous fifty years, which dates the original gift to about 1226, but her identity remains a mystery.37

29 Doris Stenton, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Fifth year of the reign of King John Michaelmas 1203 (1938) (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 54), 57. 30 C F Slade, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twelfth year of the reign of King John Michaelmas 1210 (1951) (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society,64), 98. 31 CRR, 1210-1212, 184. 32 F W Maitland, ed., Bracton’s Note Book (1887), 396. 33 Doris Stenton, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Thirteenth year of the reign of King John Michaelmas 1211 (1953) (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 66), 62,166,235. 34 Rot. Litt. Claus, 240, 378; H J Round, Studies in Peerage and Family History (1901), 206. 35 Rot. Litt. Claus, 311; Paul Dryburgh and Beth Hartland, eds., Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the Reign of Henry III, 1216-1224 (2007), 29, 34. 36 CPR, 1225-1232, 151. 37 Rotuli Hundredorum, I, 76. -186- LOST IN TIME

Very little else is recorded of John until his death in 1235. John’s widow was named Margery and she was holding dower in Eastington in 1235/36.38 She is probably the 2 same Margery de Ballon who is recorded with an interest in /3 of a knight’s fee in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire with William fitz Gilbert as co-parcener in 1242-43, lending to the supposition that she was widow of William Cumin (d.1213), and one of the four Giffard heiresses of Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire.39 Margery Giffard was wife of William Huse by 1220 when the couple made a fine in over land previously acquired by Margery and her former husband William Cumin,40 and they were still married in 1231/2 when William was summoned, along with other Giffard representatives, before the justices at Westminster.41 Her son and heir was William Cumin the younger, whose daughter, Margery, in 1236 married John de Cantilupe, younger son of William de Cantilupe, in whose wardship Margery was held during her minority. It is not likely that Margery was mother of any of John de Ballon’s children given the late chronology, nor is there any indication of Ballon interest in Giffard land. After John’s death, Margery sued a great many tenants of her former husband for dower, including his younger sons Walter and Reginald de Ballon, but did not attend the suit so was declared in default.42

Sir John II de Ballon Although Round’s study of the family ends at this point the Ballon descent can be documented further. John’s heir was his son, John II, who again proffered £100 relief for his lands on succeeding his father in 1235.43 His first appearance in record occurs in 1231 relating to his killing of the king’s deer at Gloucester castle. The sheriff was commanded by the king to replevy his father’s land in Eastington after it had been confiscated.44 John’s inheritance would seem to have already been beset by debt according to a close roll entry in 1236, demanding an inquiry into the income of his lands in Much Marcle and Great Cheverell from which Jewish money lenders were owed rents.45 In 1242 the king ordered the scutage John owed in respite because John had sent his brother to fight in Gascony to cover for his military dues.46 His indebtedness continued throughout his life, for in 1243 he was pardoned the 25 marks he owed Mokke son of Hamon, Jew of Hereford, and in 1257 he owed Guy de Lusignan, the king’s brother 75 marks, and the sheriffs were given the power to distrain his chattels and lands for the same value.47 In 1242 he appeared in the king’s court with Margery de Ballon, widow of John I de Ballon, in an agreement over the next presentation to a church in Gloucestershire –

38 H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Book of Fees (1920), 439. 39 H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Book of Fees (1920), 715, 733; M T Clanchy, ed., Civil Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre, 1249 (Wiltshire Record Society, 26), 134. 40 Ethel Stokes, ed., Warwickshire Feet of Fines 1195-1284 (1932), 59. 41 CFR, 1224-1234, 407. William was son of Godfrey Huse and held Tatwick of Henry Huse. The family is discussed in B R Kemp & D M M Shorrocks, Medieval Deeds of Bath and District (1974), 69. 42 CRR, 1233-1237, 1551. 43 Relief set at £100 must have been an excessive burden on the relatively small income his estate of 3 knights’ fees must have generated, and must part way explain the indebtedness. 44 CCR, 1227-1231, 557. 45 CCR, 1234-1237, 278. 46 CFR 1234-1242, 572 47 CCR, 1242-1247, 22; 1256-1259, 120. LOST IN TIME -187- possibly that of Eastington.48 Margery’s attorney was Roger de Monmouth, which must be seen as significant in the light of a dispute in June 1259 when John de Ballon was described as one of the tenants and heirs of John de Monmouth (d.1257),49 partnering with Maud de Lacy, wife of Geoffrey de Geinville, and Nicholas de Verdun, son and heir of Margery de Lacy (d.1256) by her husband John de Verdun.50 The Lacy sisters were grand daughters and coheirs of Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath, Ireland (d.1241), whose mother was Rohese de Monmouth. This common tenancy seems to have been most likely via the Monmouth family, suggesting Rose de Monmouth had a sister who was the ancestor of John de Ballon, and there was clearly some mutual interest, for in 1267 John witnessed a deed of sale by Geoffrey de Geinville and Maud his wife of the wardship and marriage of Richard de Bikerton.51 Intermarriage between the Ballon and the Braose family was suggested by the Herefordshire historian W H Cooke, who identified John I de Ballon’s wife as Joan, daughter and heir of William de Braose.52 Given the abundant contemporary documentation on the Braose family, this lady could not possibly have been an heiress, but had there had been such a marriage alliance, it would give ample explanation for John’s participation in the rebellion of 1215-17 in the led by Giles and Reginald de Braose. Possible Braose intermarriage with the Monmouth family is intimated by William de Braose, junior, proffering the extraordinary sum of 1000 marks in 1190 for the wardship of the heir of Gilbert de Monmouth (d.1190).53 Further intimation of kinship within the Braose circle comes from a charter issued shortly before 1190, in which both Reginald and John de Ballon appear after William de Braose senior, William de Braose junior and Richard de Clifford, as witnesses to the grant by Walter de Clifford senior of Nantglas, Powys, to Dore Abbey.54 To have both father and son attesting usually indicates that this is a family deed, pertaining to a common interest in the land transaction subject to the charter. The Braose/Clifford relationship can easily be explained by a common descent from Walter of Gloucester and his wife Bertha, but the reason for the Ballons’ involvement with the Clifford family is not so obvious unless the above speculation about a Braose and Monmouth alliance given above bears some truth.

48 CRR, 1242-1243, 393. 49 John de Monmouth had granted his Welsh lands away in 1256 to Edward I when Prince of Wales. Sanders, op.cit. (1960), 65. 50 In 1259 they sued Oliver Baderon and Ralph de Albini for lands as tenants and heirs of John de Monmouth. CCR, 1256-1259, 424, 480. Unfortunately the close roll entry does not give any indication where these lands were. 51 CCR, 1264-1268, 380. 52 William Henry Cooke, ed., Collections towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford, (1882), 3: 3. Unfortunately this particular statement is not supported by any kind of evidence, but may have been assumed from the common inheritance with the Lacy sisters whose paternal grandmother was Margaret de Braose. 53 Doris Stenton, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Second Year of the reign of King Richard the First, Michaelmas 1190, (1925), 48. Gilbert's wife was named Bertha. She may have been William's sister and granddaughter of Bertha of Hereford. Circumstantial evidence for this is that before 1160 Gilbert de Monmouth and Bertha his wife made gifts to abbey, Gloucestershire, a Cistercian house founded between 1148 and 1154 by Roger fitz Miles, Earl of Hereford, brother of Bertha of Hereford, who became his coheir. A W Crawley-Boevey, The Cartulary and Historical Notes on the Cistercian Abbey of Flaxley (1887), 133. 54 L C Loyd & D M Stenton, eds. Sir Christopher Hatton’s Book of Seals (1950), no. 362. -188- LOST IN TIME

John was married by 123355 to Auda, sister and heiress of William Paynel who held the barony of Bampton, Devon.56 This was another alliance within the Braose network, for Auda was daughter of William Paynel and his wife, Alice Briwere,57 the latter being sister of Grace Briwere, wife of Reginald de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny. This was not Auda’s only important family connection, for by a previous marriage of her mother, she was also a younger half-sister of Reginald de Mohun, Lord of Dunster (d.1258), so that John de Ballon was brought into this baron’s circle.58 In 1235 Auda and John appear again in the curia regis quitclaiming their interest in the next presentation of Limington church, Somerset, to Hugh de Vivonia.59 Shortly after her brother’s death in early 1249 Auda and John were jointly settled in ten pounds worth of land in Hackpen in Uffculme by the abbot of Dunkeswell.60 This land was the marriage portion of Auda’s mother Alice, which her brother, William Briwere, had settled on William Paynel and herself in free marriage.61 The settlement ensured that John de Ballon had a life interest in the property should they have no children between them, in which case her land would descend to her next heirs. As eventuated, the couple had no living issue, so when Auda died in 1261 the Paynel inheritance immediately passed to her kinsman John Cogan.62 To meet his military obligations John was summoned several times between 1257 and 1263 for service against the Welsh.63 In early 1265 he served on a commission of inquiry into the “burnings plundering and other trespasses and damages perpetrated in the city of Hereford”, and also into the alienation of rents pertaining to the keeping of the castle gate at Hereford.64 Later that year John de Ballon joined the cause of Simon de Montfort and was involved in the capture of the city of Gloucester,65 but after

55 CRR, 1233-1237, 56. When John and his wife were involved in a suit over a third of the manor of Huntspill against Herbert fitz Mathew, possibly son of Mathew fitz Herbert to whom in 1227 the marriage and lands of the heir of William Paynel had been granted, CCR, 1227-31, 24. 56 The history of this barony is given in I J Sanders, English Baronies (1960), 5. 57 EYC VI (Paynel Fee), 55. 58 John de Ballon witnessed a charter transferring Reginald de Mohun’s gifts to Newenham abbey, Devon, to Glastonbury abbey, Somerset. Aelred Watkin, The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury (1956) 579. 59 CCR, 1234-1237, 106. How Auda had gained this third interest in Limington is a puzzle. There is a 1226 fine between Auda, widow of Roger de Reimes, wife of William de Cliveden, and Edmund de Tudenham, nephew and heir of Roger, for 3 carucates of land in Limington. Emmanuel Green, Pedes Finium commonly called Feet of Fines for the County of Somerset, Richard 1- Edward 1 (1892), 63. 60 Oswald J Reichel, ed., Devon feet of Fines, Richard I-Henry III, 1196-1272 (1912), I, 232. 61 The IPM of William Paynel the younger shows that Fulk Paynel had originally given this property to William Briwere the elder, and the latter had given it to the abbey of Dunkeswell in frank almoin. CIPM I 139. 62 The wardship of Auda’s heirs was given to Edmund, the king’s son. John Cogan was son of William Cogan, son of Miles Cogan and Christian Paynel, his wife, daughter of Fulk Paynel grandfather of Auda. Around 1267-1270 John Cogan gave to Canonsleigh abbey for the salvation and of his and Auda’s soul 70 acres of land in Uffculme,and one furlong of land in the manor. CCR, 1259-1261, 376; CPR, 1258-1266, 153; Vera C M London, ed., The Cartulary of Canonsleigh Abbey (1965), 25. 63 CCR, 1256-1259, 140, 295; CCR 1261-1264, 272, 275. 64 CPR, 1258-1266, 478. 65 A distant kinsman by virtue of their common descent from William fitz Osbern, seigneur de Breteuil and earl of Hereford. The capture was put into effect by Giffard and Ballon disguising themselves as Welsh wool merchants, riding on wool packs and covering themselves in Welsh LOST IN TIME -189- defeat at the battle of , suffered consequent confiscation of lands. His manor in Eastington, worth £15 annually, was taken in hand by John Giffard (the same individual that had previously assisted John in the taking of Gloucester, but who had returned to the king’s allegiance before the ) until redeemed by paying a punitive fine. He raised this by another loan from Jews using the manor of Much Marcle as security.66 This would plunge the family further into a sea of debt from which they would never recover. In 1267 Roger de Mortimer purchased the debt from the Jewish mortgagor, then worth £547 p.a., against the wishes of John de Ballon, who turned Mortimer’s men off the property.67 Another debt is recorded in 1275 when he owed Aaron son of Elyas £50 “and a robe with a suitable hood”.68 John died shortly afterwards when the escheator returned that John was holding the manors of Much Marcle, Eastington and Great Cheverell, for the service of three knights at his death, and his brother Walter, aged 50 and more, was his next heir.69 John left a widow named Margaret (“…Margaret late the wife of John de Balun..”) against whom Walter placed his attorneys Philip de Mattedon or Richard le Brun in a plea of detention of starr.70 Her identity is unknown.

Sir Walter de Ballon By 10 October 1275 Walter had done homage for the lands of his brother,71 and in July 1277 was summoned to perform military service in Wales against Llewelyn but instead proffered the service of John de Balun and Philip de Matesdon his ‘servientes’ who appeared on his behalf.72 Having also inherited debt, he was immediately plunged into financial mire, for in 1276 Roger de Mortimer sued “Walter brother and heir of John de Balun touching a plea that he render him £269 8s.8d.”, but Walter stayed away from the court and consequently had his lands distrained.73 In 1280 the king ordered his steward to take into his hands the manors of Eastington, Gloucestershire, and Great Cheverell, Wiltshire, and the sheriff of to take the manor of Stambridge, held in chief, which Walter de Ballon had alienated without licence.74

cloaks. The porters to the city gate unsuspectingly allowed them through, whereupon they threw off their disguises to reveal that they were heavily armed. The porters ran away and the knights admitted Montfort and party. Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, Abstracts of Records and Manuscripts Relating to the County of Gloucester (1807), 171. 66 CIM I: 211. In 1265 he is recorded owing debts to a Jew of London. CPR, 1258-1266, 505. 67 CPR, 1266-1272, 67. 68 Hilary Jenkinson, ed., Calendar of the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews (1929), 3, 230. 69 CIPM II, no.119. It is evident from an IPM of Walter Godardville that John had subinfeudated the manor of Great Cheverell to him before 1250 and it descended via Walter’s daughter and heir, Joan, who was wife of Sir Geoffrey Gacelyn. CIPM I: no.181; CIPM II: no.422. 70 Hilary Jenkinson, op.cit. (1929), 3, 240. A starr was Jewish deed, generally acquittance of debt, its name derived from the star of David. 71 CFR, 1272-1307, 53. 72 Francis Palgrave, Parliamentary Writs (1827), 442-443. Although Walter had an illegitimate son named John who was attainted in 1306, this John would most likely have been his nephew, son of Reginald de Ballon, who was more likely to have been trained in the military arts. 73 Hilary Jenkinson, op.cit. (1929), 3, 155. 74 CFR, 1272-1307, 124. His holding at Great Stambridge in chief is something of a mystery. Margaret daughter of William son of Richard fitz William brought this manor in marriage with Richard de Tany (d.1271), who was a tenant of Sir William Comyn in Latton Taney. It is possible that she may have married Walter subsequently, by which means he had temporary possession. -190- LOST IN TIME

The penalty for this act may have been the 40 pounds by which Walter was indebted to the king in 1284.75 The following month Walter made a fine with the king for not performing military service in Wales as he should by reason of his lands in Herefordshire.76 The following year Walter made a complaint that perpetrators had broken into his park at Much Marcle, and hunted and taken away his deer and other goods, as well as ill treated his men.77 Walter’s wife, Isolda, was sister or daughter of Edmund de Mortimer, lord of Wigmore,78 who gave her a life interest in the rents and profits arising from his manor of Upper Arley in on her marriage, which took place sometime between 1282 and 1287.79 In June 1287 Walter settled the manor of Eastington on himself and Isolda and her heirs,80 and renewed the lease of Much Marcle for a number of years to Edmund to be held at a reserved rent, with Edmund covenanting to keep all in good repair and perform the feudal dues. Walter only survived a few months, dying in October of that year, when the escheator was ordered to take his lands into the king’s hands.81 For some reason no inquisition post mortem was held – or at any rate survived. Isolda, who must have been considerably younger than her husband,82 was holding the manor of Eastington worth £20 p.a.83 and a third of Great Cheverell and Much Marcle as dower at the time of her own demise in 1338.84 Shortly after Walter’s death she remarried Hugh de Audley becoming the mother of his children. Eastington thus passed into Audley hands under Walter’s settlement, but was forfeited, along with Isolda’s other dower lands, owing to Hugh taking part with the earl of Lancaster

75 CFR, 1272-1307, 209. 76 CFR, 1272-1307, 124. 77 CPR, 1272-1281, 428. 78 Isolda’s mother/grandmother was Maud de Braose, grand daughter of Reginald de Braose and Grace de Briwere, making Isolda a close kinswoman of Auda Paynel, Walter’s former sister-in- law. Isolda’s immediate Braose ancestry makes it unlikely that Walter was descended from a Joan de Braose, as the Mortimer match would have been too closely consanguineous. 79 Between the death of Roger de Mortimer and the settlement of property on Isolda. Cooke, op.cit. (1882), 3: 3. 80 C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines relating to Gloucestershire 1199-1299 (2003), no.890. 81 CFR, 1272-1307, 242. 82 She died 51 years later, in 1338. Walter was recorded as 50 and more in 1275, so must have been in his sixties at the time of their marriage. He had a son called John, but he would appear to have been illegitimate as he did not succeed to the Ballon estate. John was living in 1296 when he made a grant as John de Balun son of Sir Walter de Balun (to differentiate himself from John son of Reginald de Ballon) to Henry son of Geoffrey “le jeneue” de Preston his ”nepoti” all the land he had in the manor of Much Marcle to hold of him and his heirs. Chris Phillips: BL Lansdowne MS 905. He was likely the same who was hanged for a felony early in 1306, as given by an inquisition into five acres of land held by him in Much Marcle, which probably represented the land subject to the grant. CCR, 1302-1307, 48; CIM I, no.2013; II, 59, 100. 83 In 1237 Isolda gave lands there to found a chantry attached to St Mary, Eastington, to pray for Sir Walter Ballon, Hugh de Audley, herself, and others of her kindred, National Archives C143/236/26. She was buried beside her second husband in St Bartholomew’s church at Much Marcle, which contains an altar tomb with their effigies. Walter was probably buried in Arley, , the manor of which was settled on Isolda for life, for the church there contains an effigy of a knight bearing Ballon arms - Barry dancetty argent and gules. 84 CIM II, no.888. LOST IN TIME -191- in the rebellion of 1322. In early 1326 when Hugh was dead, Isolda petitioned for their return, and they were restored to her in April of that year.85

Sir Reginald de Ballon Sir Reginald first appears on record in 1242-43 in Wiltshire holding half a knight’s fee in Burton, Wiltshire of the earl of Hereford.86 Presumably it was to serve with the king in Gascony that in 1288, a year after succeeding Walter his brother, Reginald was given letters for going beyond seas, nominating Henry de Preston as his attorney in England. Taking into account the trust required for such a position, the latter was probably brother-in-law of Reginald, as indicated by an undated deed of a grant by Reginald de Balun, knight, ‘brother and heir of Walter de Balun’, to Henry de P[re]stone "cognato meo" and Eve his wife.87 Reginald sued for the manor of Much Marcle against Edmund de Mortimer in 1292 and redeemed it for £500 in 1294. However to achieve this in 1291 he appears to have indebted himself to Ralph de Tony to find the expenses for the suit, and entered into a bond that if Reginald or John, his son, pay Ralph 1000 marks within 10 years, tenements in Much Marcle were to revert to them. By 1294 Reginald had enfeoffed Lawrence de Ludlow in the manor of Much Marcle for payment of £542 10 shillings. Yet another portion of the manor, consisting of a virgate of land, 300 acres of woodland, and £10 in rents, Reginald alienated to Lawrence de Ludlow, as appears in the latter’s inquisition post mortem in 1316, and this descended with Lawrence's heirs.88 Reginald finally sold the manor of Great Cheverell with its advowson and the reversion of Much Marcle to ,89 , and by 1292 these had been inherited by Robert’s nephew Philip Burnell.90

John de Ballon John succeeded his father to a much depleted estate sometime after 1294, and found himself in conflict with Edmund de Mortimer whom he complained seized his goods and had him imprisoned and falsely prosecuted. Afterwards when he was acquitted of the charge, and sued a writ for restoration of his lands and chattels to the sheriff of Hereford, and was put in seisin, the men of Mortimer came to his house and wounded him.91 By 1303 he had sold the reversion of third part of the manor of Much Marcle which Isolda held in dower, to Hugh de Audley, her second husband, and his heirs.92 At this point in time all vestiges of the Ballon barony had been sold off and alienated. Owing to the confusion over John’s illegitimate cousin of the same name, who had a smallholding in Much Marcle and was hanged for felony, it has been generally

85 CCR, 1323-1327, 463, 467. 86 H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Book of Fees (1920), 723. 87 This information and details of land transactions relating to Much Marcle are taken from a posting to the newsgroup soc.gen.med. in 2002 by Chris Phillips, who generously shared his notes from BL Lansdowne MS 905. 88 CIPM, VI, no.52. The Ludlows had been tenants of the Ballons in Much Marcle for many years. Sir John de Ludlowe later sold this property to Roger Mortimer, earl of March in 1357. CPR, 1354-1358, 584. 89 CCR, 1288-1296, 30. 90 CIPM, III, no. 65. 91 National Archives. SC 8/343/16184. 92 CCR, 1302-1307, 48. Probably because of continuing intimidation. -192- LOST IN TIME considered that the family died out at this point and their land confiscated. It is apparent however, that while the family slipped into obscurity, John was still living in 1317, as will be explained below. In 1288 the king ordered the sheriff of to deliver to John, son of Reginald de Ballon, the goods of William de Taunton, hanged for felony, of whom Reginald was chief lord, for the price they were valued at in the king’s eyre.93 Further information about this estate in Dorset is to be found in the Glastonbury Cartulary, which documents the sale of John de Ballon’s rights in the manor of Colber, and lands in Abbot’s Sturminster and Stoke. How these lands came to the family is not apparent, but they were clearly inherited from his father who is documented to have held them in 1289 and 1297,94 and who was holding them in demesne of William de St Martin.95 There is also a charter of Reginald granting a tenement in Sturminster to Robert fitz Michael of Croscomb for his homage and service.96 In an undated charter John de Ballon, as son and heir of Sir Reginald de Ballon “ego Johannes de Balon, filius et heres Reginaldi de Balon militis” granted his manor of Colber and tenements in Sturminster Abbas and Stoke with all their appurtenances of wards, relief, marriages, escheats, rents and services, mills, fisheries, water rights meadows, pastures etc to Robert de Colber and Eleanor his wife. This charter was reinforced by another quitclaim in 1317 by John de Balon, as son and heir of Sir Reginald de Balon, of all possible rights in the abovementioned properties.97 After this quitclaim nothing further appears to mark the survival of the main branch of the family.98 However, a cadet line appears to have survived in Eastington for a number of years, for a William de Balon, son of Richard le Balon occurs there between 1302 and 1316.99 By 1329 Hugh le Ballon and his wife Alice owned the estate and when Hugh was dead, in 1366 Alice made the estate over to her son Richard who granted her back a moiety of it for life. Richard held the estate by 1393 and in 1409 granted it to

93 CFR,1272-1307, 251-252. 94 CCR, 1288-1296, 25. Reginald committed waste in his wood at Colber, which was within the bounds of the forest of Gillingham. CIPM III, no.400. Robert Russell died in 1297 holding a messuage, six acres of arable land, and one acre of meadow by service of Reginald. 95 F W Weaver, ed., A Feodary of Glastonbury Abbey (1910), 37. John Hutchins, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset (1873), VI, 340. Sir William de St. Martin held the manors of Colber and Stoke of the abbot of Glastonbury for one knight’s fee. The heirs of John de Turberville were tenants of the manor of Stoke. 96 Aelred Watkin, ed., The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury (1956), 599. 97 Aelred Watkin, op.cit. (1956), 595-596, 598. 98 Between 1290 and 1344 there was a contemporary “John de Ballon of Dunkerton” in Somerset who appeared witnessing charters of Reginald de Montfort of Farleigh Montfort along with other landowners in the Wellow Hundred. J.L Kirby, ed., The Hungerford Cartulary (1994), nos. 758 onwards; Kemp & Shorrocks, op.cit. (1974), 105 onwards. This family descended from Winebald de Ballon, whose descendant, William de Ballon, occurs in the pipe rolls in 1199 as seneschal of Henry de Newmarche his kinsman, from whom he held the estate, presumably as reward for this service. The Ballons of Dunkerton continued to thrive well into the fifteenth century, as given in the inquisition post mortem of John Balon of Dunkerton in 1417. CIPM XX, no.786. 99 Gloucestershire Archives D214/T25, D214/T30A/2. In the late 1200s Clarice de Bayhouse granted William de Ballon 16 selions of arable land belonging to Colethrop manor in Standish for his service, which he sold in 1316. William’s father, Richard de Ballon, was probably a younger son of John de Ballon I. LOST IN TIME -193-

John Oswald, although retaining rights in the house, which included a hall, an upper and lower chamber, and a kitchen.100 Descent of Emmeline de Ballon

1. Hamelin de Ballon d.aft. 1103 2. William de Ballon d.s.p. 2. Matthew de Ballon d.s.p. 2. Emmeline de Ballon + Reginald son of Roger, earl of Hereford 3.William fitz Reginald d.s.p. 3. Reginald de Ballon d.1203 + NN 4. John de Ballon d. 1235 + ?Maud 5. John de Ballon II d.1275 + (1) Auda Paynel + (2) Margaret 5. Walter de Ballon d.s.p.l.1287 + NN 6. John de Ballon (illeg.) + ? Margaret dau Richard fitz William + Isolde de Mortimer d.1338 5. Reginald de Ballon d. by 1308 6. John de Ballon d. aft 1317 5.?Richard de Ballon 6. William de Ballon of Eastington 5.?Eve de Ballon + Henry de Preston + (2) Margery Giffard 3. Hamelin de Ballon 3. Agnes de Ballon 3. Juliana de Ballon

Hamelin’s other daughter The other half of this family history is revealed in two separate final concords made on 6 May 1227 when William de London and Richard de Cromhall quitclaimed their interest in a carucate in Much Marcle, and Great Cheverell and land in Taynton, Gloucestershire to John de Ballon, in return for a carucate in Great Sutton, Wiltshire. The quitclaim was made in the presence of Margery de Limesey, who was William and Richard’s co-parcener, with John de Ballon, “ in the inheritance which was of Hamelin de Balun their ancestor, whose heirs they are”, agreeing that, “whatever they may acquire in the honour of Bergavenny which was Hamelin’s inheritance and of which half belongs to John, they will have partitioned between them, saving to John his privilege as the eldest (einescia), so that John will meet half and Richard, Margery and William the other half of the cost of acquiring the honor”.101

100 VCH Gloucestershire, 10, 127. 101 C R Elrington, Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1199-1299 (2003), nos. 213, 214. The exact nature or history of the land holding in Taynton has not been revealed in the course of this study. Einescia was the right of primogeniture enjoyed by the eldest co- parcener i.e. it usually meant occupation of the caput of the fee. -194- LOST IN TIME

As John de Ballon’s descent from Hamelin de Ballon is completely documented in the male line from Emmeline de Ballon, the inference to be made from this fine is that Hamelin de Ballon was succeeded by two heiresses, not one. John de Ballon had evidently inherited rights to only half of the lands through Hamelin’s eldest daughter Emmeline, while Margery de Limesy, William de London and Richard de Cromhale, were descendants and representatives of the younger daughter. They evidently held a right to a moiety of the land between them, but held their land in tenure from the senior line. This form of landholding was known as tenure in parage, peculiar to Norman law, and adopted in England in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when inheritance was divided between heiresses, but only the husband of the eldest daughter would pay homage and meet the feudal dues for the whole fee, while the husband(s) of the younger daughter(s) and their descendants paid homage and relief to the elder sister and her husband and her heirs. This relationship generally continued for a few generations, by which time the fee had generally undergone a formal physical partition owing to changing practice in law in the mid-thirteenth century.102 It is not difficult to understand how the descendants of twelfth century co-heiresses remain hidden because of their minor feudal role - thus making tracing them and their descendants from medieval documents difficult. After 1236, the custom of parage gradually declined, as the self interest of the king and overlords held sway over the acquisition of lucrative marriages and custody of lands of all the heirs. This resulted in a shift in the status of younger co-heiresses, whose rights were now visible in law and were less likely to be abused under the cover of parage, when family feelings of obligation had evaporated after a few generations. At the time of this fine in 1227 it is clear that the Ballon fee was undergoing formal rearrangement through the legal persistence of the coheirs. The fine is unusual in that there is an explicit historical statement embedded in the text of the fine describing the co-parceners’ status as coheirs of Hamelin de Ballon, as well as their mutual interest in the honour of Abergavenny, which they clearly still hoped to reclaim. As this had been lost well over 100 years previously, it demonstrates how much the history of the family’s possessions had been kept alive beyond living memory. Perhaps in the unstable political climate hope had been revived that their claims might be acknowledged. Another important aspect of this fine is that it represented the culmination in legal action which had began some years previously, by people who had considerable knowledge and expertise in the law. It gives us some insight into the class of people who represented the descendants of the younger daughter of Hamelin de Ballon. So who was this other daughter and how did her lands descend to Margery, William and Richard? Well, to begin with, Round unwittingly did find a record giving evidence of co-parcenership in the Ballon lands in a fine roll of 1207 relating to Wiltshire. The fine refers back in time to a previous fine made before 1189, during the reign of Henry II, between Reginald de Ballon, and Geoffrey fitz Ace and his wife Agnes, over lands which once belonged to Hamelin de Ballon.103 Round believed the fine was somehow in connection to Great Cheverell, Wiltshire. However the Adventus Vicecomitem roll for Easter 1208 reveals that that the lands subject to the fine were

102 Frederick Pollock and Frederic Maitland, History of English Law before the time of Edward I (1968) 2:264-291. 103 J H Round, op.cit. (1901), 199 citing Fine Roll, 9 John, m. 11, p.382 “John de Balun dat c marcas et unum palefridum ut finis factus inter Reginaldum de Balun patrem ipsius Johannis et Gaufrideum filium Ace et Agnetem uxorem suam de terra que fuit Hamelini de Balun unde cirographum factum fuit inter eos in curia Regis Henrici patris domini Regis teneantur.” LOST IN TIME -195- actually in Sutton, which had been divided between Reginald de Ballon, and Geoffrey fitz Ace and Agnes his wife. Moreover, from a memoranda roll entry of 1208 another co-parcener of Agnes appears named Denise de Gundeville, apparently widowed at the time, as she was acting in her name alone.104 Geoffrey accounted for Sutton in 1190/91 during the scutage raised in the second year of king Richard’s reign, which must infer that this land again was held under parage and that Agnes was the eldest and Denise was the junior partner.105 The exact relationship of the three co-parceners, who later quitclaimed their interests in Much Marcle, Great Cheverell and Taynton to John de Ballon in return for his share in Great Sutton in the 1227 final concords, is revealed in an 1208 Sussex inquisition, in which a jury found that Agnes de Falaise,106 recently deceased widow of Geoffrey fitz Azo,107 was the aunt (amita) of Margaret, Denise and Florence, daughters of Richard Murdac,108 and was seised at her death of a third of a fee in Up Marden, Sussex, for which William Aguillon, then holding and claiming for himself, called to warrant Alfred of Lincoln. It was found that Margaret, Denise and Florence were her next heirs and they were awarded seisin of her lands109. From this we can assume the three sisters were daughters and coheirs of their mother Denise de Gundeville, who must have recently died.

Denise de Gundeville and Richard Murdac Richard Murdac was undoubtedly related to Hugh Murdac, chaplain of Henry II and Ralph Murdac, justices itinerant during the latter part of the reign of Henry II, as well as , archbishop of , and is probably the same Richard who witnessed charters by the latter.110 His place in the Murdac family would appear to be that of younger son of Ralph Murdac of Oxford whose wife was Beatrice de Chesney, daughter of Roger de Chesney and Alice de Langetot.111 The evidence for this is that Richard’s sons-in-law, Richard de Cromhall, William de London and Nicholas de Limesey, with their wives Denise, Florence and Margery Murdac, as well as Sibyl and

104 Wiltesira. Rex baronibus. Mandamis vobis quatinus demandam quam facitis Johanni de Baalun de c m. et j palefrido unde ipse finem fecit nobiscum pro habendo judicio de cirographo facto inter Dionesiam de Gundevull’ et Galfridum f. Ace et Agnetam uxorem suam petentes et Reginaldum de Baalun tenentem de terra de Sutton’ ponatis in respectum quousque idem Johannes judicium inde habuerit. R.Allen Brown, ed.,The Memoranda Roll for the Tenth Year of the Reign of King John. (1957), 33. 105 Hubert Hall Red Book of the Exchequer (1896), 74. Geoffrey would appear to have died by 1196 when his widow, named as Agnes de Gundeville, accounted for scutage in her own right in a knight’s fee in . Doris Stenton, ed. The Chancellor’s Roll for the Eighth year of the Reign of King Richard the First Michaelmas 1196 (1930), 62, 68. 106 She also appears as Agnes de Gundevill in a 1206 Sussex fine. L F Salzmann, ed., An abstract of the Feet of Fines relating to the county of Sussex from 2 Richard 1 to 33 Henry III ( 1902), no. 103. 107 Geoffrey fitz Azo (also seen as fitz Ace, fitz Azair and fitz Azor in contemporary record) was sheriff of Hampshire 1179-1189. J Horace Round, Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de XII Comitatibus (1913), 32. He is recorded confirming gifts by his father and elder brother William of land in Weston Super Mare to St Augustine’s Abbey, Bristol. David Walker, ed., The Cartulary of St Augustine’s Abbey, Bristol (1998), 223, 224. 108 Vera London, ed., The Cartulary of Bradenstoke Priory (1979), nos. 447, 565, 614-16, 674. 109 Abbreviatio Placitorum, 56 110 EYC I, nos. 71, 535; II, nos. 1108, 1175. 111 An exposition of Chesney family relationships is given in H E Salter, ed., Eynsham Cartulary (1907) I, 411-423. -196- LOST IN TIME her husband Robert Corbet, were sued by Amisia de Woodstock, for a hide of land with appurtenances in Black Bourton in the year 1200.112 The manor of Black Bourton had been the inheritance of Eva, daughter of John de Grey, wife of Ralph Murdac, presumed brother of Richard. Ralph’s lands had been confiscated in 1194 but his wife was still holding the manor in her own right in 1200. The fact that Richard had been given an interest in Ralph’s land in Black Burton must be beyond coincidence. Amisia later came to court and conceded Richard de Cromhall and William de London a hide of land in Black Bourton for three and a half marks.113 Richard was the first witness to a charter by Ralph Murdac granting a moiety of the church at Black Bourton to Oseney abbey before 1180.114 He also attested one of Ralph’s charters confirming grants by Roger Devereux of alms in Monkhide Herefordshire to St Peter’s, Gloucester. Ralph Murdac refers to Roger (son of William, son of William Devereux) as “cognatus meus”, which could imply a common Devereux descent for the Murdacs, although cognatus at this time was also used to convey an in-law relationship.115 In 1166 Richard Murdac held one fee of Margaret de Bohun, but where this was is not known. By this time he was probably already married to Denise de Gundeville and had the estate in Alkerton a hamlet in Eastington as her marriage portion.116 He appears to have been of a liberal disposition and patronised several religious houses. In a charter of grant to Leonard Stanley Priory, with the assent of his wife Denise, he gave them the mill of Alkerton, all the arable in his demesne, and a cartload of hay. The prior was to take Richard’s son, Richard, to be raised and a mass sung daily for the souls of the donor and members of the family. In a later charter, with the assent of his heir William, he gave the monks there four acres of land for the souls of his wife, himself and other members of his family.117 He also appears in the Bradenstoke cartulary giving land in Eastington to the priory. This cartulary also contains a later charter of gift to the monks by Richard de Cromhall of a virgate of land in Alkerton, which his grandfather Richard Murdac had given him.118 Richard Murdac also gave land in Eastleach to the abbey of Gloucester between 1148 and 1179, and his gift of a hide of land in Duntsbourne to Llanthony priory was confirmed by Richard I in 1198.119 He donated five acres of land in Baunton to , as well as four acres and tithes to the chapel of St Mary Magdalen

112 CRR, 1196-1201, 147. Sibyl may have been a fourth daughter who either died without issue shortly afterwards, or was a half sister to the other three daughters by another wife, or was the widow of William Murdac who died without issue, for she is not mentioned in any records pertaining to the Ballon inheritance. 113 CRR, 1196-1201, 196. 114 The second witness was Ralph de Chesney, uncle of Richard and Ralph Murdac. H E Salter, ed., Cartulary of Oseney Abbey. Oxford: Clarendon Press, (1934) IV, 477. 115 Robert B. Patterson, ed., The Original Acta of St. Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester c.1122 to 1263 (1998), no. 245. Monkhide was given in marriage to William Devereux, great Grandfather of Roger, with Hawise de Lacy of Weobley. There is a family relationship between Gilbert Foliot, who was abbot there in 1139, and Ralph Murdac via the Chesney family. 116 Richard appears in the pipe rolls of 1165-1166 owing 5 marks for his right to land by pledge of Hugh de Gundeville. W Chester, Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twelfth year of the Reign of king Henry II (1888), 79. 117 Robert B. Patterson, ed., The Original Acta of St. Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester c.1122 to 1263 (1998), no.s 379, 380. 118 Vera London, ed., The Cartulary of Bradenstoke Priory (1979), no. 447, 674. 119 William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum 6(1), 137. LOST IN TIME -197- in Baunton with the assent of his wife Denise, witnessed by Robert de Gundeville, and Richard’s three daughters Denise, Margery and Florence.120 In 1220, in further suits emphasising their claims to their Ballon inheritance, the three sisters sued for the next presentation to Great Sutton church against the prior of Abergavenny,121 and in another they collectively sued John de Ballon for a carucate in Much Marcle and Great Cheverell.122 Although repeatedly summoned over several years to respond to the case, John continually failed to attend, protracting the settlement of the Ballon lands until the final concord of 1227. The sisters and their heirs continued in full possession, for William de London, Richard de Cromhall and Walter de Limesey are recorded holding one knights’ fee between them in Sutton in 1242-43.123 However, it is clear from other law suits that not only did the sisters have a claim to the Ballon inheritance, they also had inherited part of another estate. In 1212 Florence, daughter of Richard Murdac, made an agreement in the king’s court with Nicholas Limesey, her eldest sister’s husband, for a reasonable third share of land which had belonged to Agnes de Gundeville in Great Sutton and Up Marden. Nicholas attorned John de Ballon, Alfred de Lincoln and William Aguillon and she was conceded the land.124 In 1226 Margery, late wife of Nicholas de Limesy, sued Reginald de Aguillon for the manor of Strettington, Sussex. In turn three years later, Richard de Grenestede, William Aguillon, Gilbert Marshall and Cecilia his wife impleaded Margery for a knight’s fee and appurtenances in the same manor as their right, to which she responded she did not hold the fee except as a third part in dower and two parts as custodian of the son of Nicholas de Limesy.125 It is evident from these claims to Up Marden, and Strettington that the three sisters were coheirs and descendants of Hugh de Falaise. Hugh de Falaise (undoubtedly a descendant of William de Falaise of Stogursey126 tenant in chief in Somerset and Dorset) held five fees of the earl of Arundel in 1166 at Up Marden, Strettington and Offham in Sussex.127 According to the comprehensive account by Salzmann,128 Hugh’s heirs were his two daughters, Emma, wife first of William de Thorney, and secondly Gilbert de Sartilli - though it is unlikely that Emma was mother of Gilbert’s heir,129 and Agnes, wife of Hugh de Gundeville.

120 C D Ross, ed., The Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey (1964), 228. 121 CPR, 1216-1225, 262. 122 CRR, 1220, 224. 123 H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Book of Fees (1920), 718. 124 CRR, 1212, 394. 125 CRR, 1227-1230, no. 1327. This was perhaps a frivolous defence on technical grounds designed to delay settlement of their claim. 126 William’s daughter Sybil was described as a kinswoman of Henry I in an inquisition post mortem held in 1248. They were most likely related to the royal house via Herleve de Falaise, mother of William I. CIPM I:166; K S B Keats-Rohan, DD, 474. 127 DD, 454; VCH Sussex 4, 145; EYC III, 41. The five fees may indicate that he or his father had married the eldest daughter of one of the earls of Arundel. 128 L F Salzmann, “The Family of Aguillon”, Sussex Archaeological Collection, 79 (1938): 49. 129 The Sartillis held the manor of East Hampnett, Sussex of the barony of Halnaker for a knight’s fee. Gilbert had a daughter and heir named Clarice whose grandson was Godfrey de Craucombe, diplomat and steward of the household of Henry III, who in 1214/1215 leased two thirds of a knight’s fee in Hampnett to William Morand for William’s life. It is interesting to note that Godfrey’s first wife was Alice de Cormeilles, one of the four daughters and heiresses -198- LOST IN TIME

Emma and Gilbert gave to Boxgrove priory a hide of land in Herting - a gift which Agnes and her husband Hugh de Gundeville confirmed in a charter witnessed by Hugh’s son-in-law Geoffrey fitz Ace and Ellis de Gundeville.130 Hugh also confirmed a gift made by his wife to the lepers of St Lazarus of Jerusalem of 3 hides in Up Marden and one in East Herting from her own inheritance. This charter was also witnessed by Geoffrey fitz Ace and Ellis de Gundeville.131 Emma’s representatives in 1222 were the heirs of her son Richard fitz William de Thorney of West Thorney, Walton, Chadham and Boseham in Sussex who had died without issue.132 From the above it is evident that Agnes de Falaise and Hugh de Gundeville were the parents of Agnes, wife of Geoffrey fitz Ace, and Denise, wife of Richard Murdac. Confusingly,133 an assise was held in 1203 to determine if Agnes “amita”134 of Agnes de Gundeville was seised in demesne of two carucates of land with its appurtenances in Offham on the day she died.135 Given what we know of the family relationships there is clearly a puzzle here. Emma de Falaise, as the elder sister, would have held the two carucates in Offham by fee, and would be expected to be the aunt of Agnes de Gundeville in question. The assise established that the land in Offham, which 2 Hugh Sturmy claimed to hold by service of /3 of a knight’s fee, was given to him by Henry II by charter, and for which King John should warrant. Richard de Thorney, son of Emma de Falaise and cousin of Agnes de Gundeville, put in his claim to this land during the assise. Other evidence of dispute in Offham involving descendants of the Falaise sisters occurs in 1207 when Alfred de Lincoln sued Hugh Sturmi and Richard de Thorney for a third part of their holdings in Offham as his right. Nicholas de Limesey put in a claim on behalf of his wife, Margery, and her sisters.136

Hugh de Gundeville We are given an important clue to Hugh de Gundeville’s ancestry in his possession of land in the Ballon fee from a charter. As constable of the earl of Gloucester, Hugh and his unnamed wife (“Hugo de Gunnovill Willelmi comitis Glouc’ constabularies et uxor

of Walter de Cormeilles for whom Reginald de Ballon had stood as guarantor for a loan in 1203, as mentioned above. VCH Sussex, v. 4; L F Salzmann, ed., An abstract of the Feet of Fines Relating to the County of Sussex from 2 Richard I to 33 Henry III (1902), no. 135. 130 Lindsay Fleming, ed., The Chartulary of Boxgrove Priory (1960), 64, 71. 131 Janet H Stevenson, ed., The Durford Cartulary (2006), no. 233. 132 These were William Aguillon, son of Margery his sister; Richard de Grenestede, son of Emma his sister, and his sister Cecily de Thorney, wife of Gilbert Marshal. They appear in a final concord appointing dower for Richard’s widow, Maud, in Thorney and Chadham. L F Salzmann, op.cit. (1902), no. 181. 133 Keats-Rohan’s confused account of the family of Hugh de Gundeville is exacerbated by this anomaly. DD, 491. 134 Both amita and matertera appear as the term pertaining to Agnes de Gundeville as aunt of the three Murdac sisters, which shows how loosely this relationship might be recorded. CRR, 1210-1212, 394. In this case amita may in fact refer to Agnes de Gundeville’s paternal aunt for all we know, in which case more significant genealogy may manifest itself, particularly as it might be related to Alfred de Lincoln’s tenure in Offham. 135 CRR, 1201-1203, 277. 136 CRR, 1207-1208, 88. Alfred de Lincoln crops up suing the three sisters for a third part of North Marden in two assises of morte d’ancestor, for which jurors failed to appear. The nature of his claim is not apparent, but was certainly obstructed by Hugh Sturmi and Richard de Thorney and was not resolved by 1212. CRR, 1207-1208, 173, 192, 201, 216, 276 ; CRR, 1210-1212, 267. LOST IN TIME -199- eius…”) gave his land in “Eastenest’” (or “Estentona” as given in Earl William’s confirmation charter) with its church and mill to Cirencester abbey. This place name refers to Eastington in Gloucestershire, from which place Richard Murdac later gave possessions to Bradenstoke priory.137 Hugh de Gundeville138 is known to have attained an important position in the service of Henry II, but he began his career in the entourage of the earl of Gloucester and around 1147-49 witnessed charters of Earl Robert, and later those of Earl William as constable.139 Perhaps by reason of his allegiance to the earl who was loyal to the cause of Henry of Anjou, and by virtue of being married to a distant kinswoman of the king, as well as having an obvious administrative ability, Hugh managed to carve out an important niche in the service of Henry II after his accession, and appears attesting charters in the king’s court between 1154 and 1177.140 In 1155 he is recorded holding two fees in Langport and Curry Rivel in Somerset as well as being in receipt of the Hundred court,141 while in 1165 he appears as custodian of Sherborne, Dorset.142 In 1166 Hugh was also holding two knights’ fees of William Mohun in Ham, Dorset, and in 1173 was in possession of the manor of Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire, after it had been confiscated from the rebellious Hugh, earl of Chester. As King Henry’s man he also played a minor role in the downfall of Thomas a Becket. In 1165, he had been one of the four laymen (the others being William, earl of Arundel, Bernard de Saint Valery, and Henry Fitzgerald) sent with senior clerics on a mission by Henry II, to the pope at Sens to make accusations about Becket’s conduct. Hoveden relates that, “On seeing that they could not gain their object, they requested of our lord the pope that two legates might be sent to England to take cognizance of the dispute which existed between the king and the , and to decide it to the honor of God, and of the Holy Church, and of the realm. However, our lord the pope was not willing to send any cardinal or any legate, as he was aware that the king of England was powerful both in word and deed, and that legates might easily be corrupted, as being more athirst for gold and silver than for justice and equity. Upon this, the envoys of the king of England, being unable to gain their object, withdrew from the court of our lord the pope”.143 Five years later, Hugh de Gundeville was one of the guardians of Henry, the young king, at Winchester. William de Humez was instructed by Henry II, spending Christmas in Bures, France, to go to England to order Hugh de Gundeville to take a

137 Mary Devine, ed., The Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey (1977), 3, nos. 808, 809. The editor was unable to identify either the location or the genealogical significance of this charter. 138 Keats-Rohan speculates that the name is derived from Gonneville-sur-Scie, Seine-Maritime. DD, 491. 139 Most notably Earl Robert’s foundation charter for Margam Abbey in 1147. R B Patterson Earldom of Gloucester Charters (1972), no.119. A charter by earl William granting Llanthony priory quittance from tolls in which Hugh appears immediately after the countess Hawise as witness (no.111), and the treaty in 1149 between Roger, Earl of Hereford acknowledging his vassalage to earl William. Hugh appears second in the witness list for earl William after the earl’s brother, Robert (no.96). 140 Robert William Eyton, Court, Household, and Itinerary of King Henry II (1878), 39-218. 141 Hubert Hall, Red Book of the Exchequer (1896), 226, 677. 142 Robert William Eyton, op.cit. (1878) 86. 143 Henry T Riley, trans., The Annals of Roger de Hoveden (1853), 268. -200- LOST IN TIME party of knights to capture Becket at Canterbury. However, before there was enough time to put this into effect, it was pre-empted by Becket’s murder.144 In 1172 we find Hugh with the king’s court in Ireland attesting the king’s charter giving the men of Bristol his city of Dublin to inhabit.145 He and Robert fitz Bernard were appointed lieutenants under Humphrey de Bohun in the government of the city of Waterford. Hugh was king’s justiciar as well as sheriff of Hampshire in 1170,146 and from Jan 1176 to 1180, while sheriff of and Hampshire, he served as one of the three justiciars,147 of the circuit covering in the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, Warwick, Northampton and Leicester.148 Hugh was dead by Michaelmas 1181, when he owed £4.3s.10d. for the farm of Hertinton “sed mortuus est” .149 His lands in Langport, Curry Rivel, and “Chedrefield”, Somerset, and those of the honour of Arundel in Sussex were taken into the king’s hands. King Henry passed the custody of Hugh’s lands to prominent servants, most notably, Hugh de Nevill, king’s Forester, Henry Turpin, the king’s chamberlain, and Peter Saracen. In 1190 Geoffrey fitz Ace paid a 300 marks fine to have his wife’s inheritance in Hampshire.150 However the couple became embroiled in litigation against William Turpin whose predecessor had been given Hugh’s land in Strettington. Finally in 1205 Turpin and Agnes de Gundeville made a fine whereby he acknowledged her right to a knight’s fee in Strettington,151 and, as shown above, it was Agnes’ niece Margery Limesey who successfully claimed this estate against the heirs of Emma de Falaise in 1226. Because there is no hint of involvement of Emma’s descendants in the lands of Hamelin de Ballon, it is doubtful that the rights to the Ballon lands came from Hugh de Falaise. However, there are other ways in which they could have passed to the Murdac sisters. One is that Hugh de Falaise had two daughters by different wives, one of whom was the Ballon heiress. The other explanation is that the Ballon heiress was mother of Hugh de Gundeville. There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that the latter might be the correct interpretation of the facts. When Hugh died in 1181 his two nephews paid relief for lands in which they had been enfeoffed by him. They were Robert de Gundeville who gave 40 marks to have seisin of a knight’s fee in Tarrant Gunville, Dorset, as he had it before the death of Hugh his uncle, and Hamelin de Gundeville who owed 10 marks for seisin of two fees in Ham, Dorset, (held of the Mohun family) as he had it before the death of Hugh his uncle.152

144 Robert William Eyton, op.cit. (1878), 150. 145 Robert William Eyton, op.cit. (1878), 164. 146 DD, 491; W T Reedy, ed., Basset Charters c.1120-1250 (1995), 34. 147 Along with William fitz Ralph and William Basset. 148 Robert William Eyton, op.cit. (1878), 198. 149 J Horace Round, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twenty Eighth Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second 1181-1182 (1910), 30. 150 HKF III, 42. This was possibly the farm of Sambourne, Hampshire, for which Hugh de Gundeville had rendered account. 151 L F Salzmann, An abstract of the Feet of Fines Relating to the County of Sussex from 2 Richard I to 33 Henry III (1902), no.103. 152 J Horace Round, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twenty Seventh Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second 1180-1181 (1909), 10. Both Robert and Hamelin witnessed a charter of Hugh de Gundeville restoring land he had taken from Curry Rivel church “by evil counsel”. W H B Bird, ed., Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Dean and Chapter of Wells (1907) I, 10. In 1209 Hugh de Gundeville, successor of Robert de Gundeville, brought an assise of mort LOST IN TIME -201-

Onomastically, the name Hamelin was sufficiently uncommon to be of significance occurring in the Gundeville family as it does here. Perhaps more significantly, charter evidence revealing family associations occurs around 1152-1167 when a Robert de Gundeville witnessed a charter of Hawise de Gurney, who gave the church of Englishcombe to Bermondsey for the souls of her husband, Roger de Ballon and her son, Roger, heirs of Winebald de Ballon. Robert de Gundeville’s name appears after that of Ralph, Hamelin and Arnold de Ballon and is probably the same as the Robert de Gundeville holding a fourth part of a fee of Henry de Neufmarche, grandson of Winebald de Ballon in 1166.153 As Keats-Rohan suggests, he may be the same Robert fitz Hugh de Gundeville who was a tenant of the Giffards in Normandy and whose grants to Longueville priory (founded by ) were confirmed by Henry II in 1155,154 and was likely the same Robert de Gonneville who witnessed a charter of William, earl of Gloucester around 1150-59 granting Rannulf fitz Gerold, brother of the king’s chamberlain, 20 librates of land in Great Gransden, and Toppesfield, Essex.155 If Robert fitz Hugh de Gundeville was a younger brother of Hugh, husband of Agnes de Falaise, as chronology might suggest, he was probably father of Robert and Hamelin, Hugh’s nephews, who succeeded to his lands in Dorset under new feoffment. The logical conclusion according to this train of ideas would be that Hamelin de Ballon’s younger daughter, whose name still remains elusive,156 was wife of a senior Hugh de Gundeville. A person with such a name is recorded in 1077 as a witness to the foundation charter of the priory of Monks Kirby in Warwickshire by Gosfred de Wirchia. Hugh appears as third witness after Ivo son of Hugh de Grentmeisnil, and Ivo his knight.157 Whether this Hugh de Gundeville was a kinsman of the Grantmesnils, or a forebear of Hugh de Gundeville, it has not been possible to discover. Unfortunately the search ends at this point, but another member of the Gundeville family occurs in the pipe rolls between 1156 and 1189. Hugh de Gundeville evidently had a sister named Agnes appearing as “sororis Hugonis de Gundevilla” rendering 15 shillings for dower land in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, which was held in chief

d’ancestor in Langport and Curry Rivel against Richard Revel, and in 1218/1219 he appears in a law suit involving his free tenements in Pimperne and Nutford, Dorset. In 1206 the same Hugh was sued for land in Snitterfield, Warwickshire, by William Cumin and Margery his wife (later wife of John de Ballon I). Hugh was dead by 1220 when Hugh son of Hugh de Gundeville was sued by Hamelin fitz Ralph for being disseised of a tenement in Pimperne, which indicates Robert, his grandfather, was also seised of a knight’s fee in this manor. Doris Stenton, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Eleventh Year of the Reign of King John, Michaelmas 1209 (1949), 102; CFR, 1216-1224, 93; Doris Stenton, ed., Pleas Before the King or his Justices, 1198-1212 (1967) III, 276; F W Maitland, ed., Bracton’s Note Book (1887), no.1411, App. 8. 153 Hubert Hall, Red Book of the Exchequer (1896), 296. A Philip de Gundeville also held a tenth part of a fee of Henry de Newmarche in 1166. 154 DD, 491. Possible Giffard kinship is hinted at by the name Ellis/Elias/Helias appearing in the Gundeville family, for as shown earlier, Ellis de Gundeville witnessed the confirmation charter of Agnes de Falaise and her husband Hugh. Ellis de Gundeville also occurs in the Forde abbey cartulary with his brother William de Gundeville, witnessing a charter of Robert Burnel of whom they were tenants in Dorset. Steven Hobbs, ed., The Cartulary of Forde Abbey (1998), 173. 155 R B Patterson, ed., Earldom of Gloucester Charters (1972), no.71. 156 Going by onomastic tradition alone, she may have been named Denise or Agnes. 157 William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, 6(1), 996. -202- LOST IN TIME from the king.158 It has not been possible to discover the identity of her husband or heirs, but it would seem likely that she had been named after her maternal grandmother, Agnes, wife of Hamelin de Ballon, and was the eldest daughter of our heiress. Descendants of the second daughter of Hamelin de Ballon 1.NN de Ballon + Hugh de Gundeville 2.Hugh de Gundeville d.1181 + Agnes de Falaise 3. Agnes de Gundeville aka Falaise d.s.p 1206 + Geoffrey fitz Azo d. by 1196 3. Denise de Gundeville d. 1208 + Richard Murdac 4. William Murdac d.s.p. 4. Richard Murdac d.s.p. 4. Margery Murdac 4. Florence Murdac 4. Denise Murdac 2. Robert de Gundeville 3. Robert de Gundeville 4. Hugh de Gundeville 5. Hugh de Gundeville 3. Hamelin de Gundeville 2. Agnes de Gundeville d. 1189

The Murdac sisters and their Descendants While it is not feasible to make a detailed account of all the descendants of the second daughter of Hamelin de Ballon here, it is possible to state with a high degree of certainty that there exist living descendants of Margery and Florence Murdac. The following explored lines are the legal heirs of the Ballon lands, but there are undoubtedly many living descendants from cadet lines, which are more difficult to trace.

Margery Murdac Margery was wife of Nicholas de Limesey, probably a descendant of Ralph de Limesey, Domesday tenant-in-chief - although his ancestry is unknown. He attorned on behalf of Agnes de Gundeville in the curia regis in 1200 in a plea for dower in Sutton, and occurs in 1208 in a list of tenants of the honour of Tickhill holding the custody of the lands and heirs of William de London, his wife’s nephews and nieces.159 Nicholas took a prominent role protecting the interests of the Murdac sisters, appearing before the curia regis no less than 22 times between 1207 and 1212, pursuing their rights in their Murdac, Gundeville and Falaise inheritance after the death of Agnes de Gundeville in 1206.160 After that he no longer appears, and

158 DD, 491. She was possibly named after her paternal grandmother. 159 CRR, 1196-1201, 330; H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Book of Fees (1920), 33. 160 For an unknown reason they also appear to have had some interest in the manor of Upminster, Essex held by Viel Engaine. This was previously held by Richard fitzUrse d.1140, whose wife was Maud de Boulers, daughter of Sibyl de Falaise. CRR, 1220, 33; Hubert Hall, Red Book of the Exchequer (1896), 233. LOST IN TIME -203-

Margery continued in her own right and that of her son, Walter, who is recorded holding his share of Strettington, Little Sutton, Great Sutton and Suton Veney in 1242.161 Margery’s main dwelling appears to have been at Westerton, a hamlet in Westhampnett, Sussex. A charter by the prior of Boxgrove abbey gave them the right to have a chapel at their court there in perpetuity, in return for two messuages and rents in Chichester.162 However, by 1242 it is apparent that Walter de Limesey was insane and his goods and chattels in Gloucestershire were put in the charge of his wife Maud, and two years later in 1244, his land is recorded as held by his brother John de Limesey, who was also holding in Pusey in 1275.163 By 1269 Walter’s land in Alkerton had passed to Master Roger de Gloucester as feoffee, whose family held it until Christina de Gloucester, brought it to her husband, John de Bradeston of Breadstone, after 1333.164 By 1274 the Limesey share in Sutton Veney, Great Sutton and Little Sutton was held by John de Kingston, inherited via Joan, daughter of Nicholas de Limesey and Margery Murdac.165 Joan de Limesey was wife of Sir Roger de Kingston of Pusey, Berkshire,166 as revealed by a charter dated between 1221 and 1229 by the abbot of Oseney, granting Ralph de Burton a virgate of land in Black Bourton which he was holding of the marriage portion of the wife of Sir Roger de Kingston, who was daughter of Nicholas de Limesey.167 Sir Roger was dead by 1233 when Joan sued Philip de Fifhide, who had seized her manor in Pusey. She pleaded in the curia regis that she was the widow of Roger de Kingston, who had held the manor in socage, and she had its custody after her husband’s death as mother of Henry, son and heir of Roger.168 In 1235 she was sued for half an acre in Pusey, and was still living in 1242/43 when she is recorded as holding in Pusey, Berkshire of the honour of St Walerie.169 In 1235 the wardship of young Henry was subject of a dispute between Margery de Somery and John de Beauchamp because of military service owed in Suffolk, and in 1242/43 Maud de Gournay was holding Roger’s fee in wardship in Kingston because the heir was still underage.170

161 H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Book of Fees (1920) 688, 718, 728, 731. 162 Lindsay Fleming, ed., The Chartulary of Boxgrove Priory (1960), 131. Margery describes herself as the “heir of Agnes de Gondewill”. Keats-Rohan mistakenly interprets this to mean that Margery was her daughter. DD, 491. 163 CCR, 1237-1242, 463; CCR, 1242-1247, 112, 250; J M Rigg, ed., Calendar of the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews (1905), 1, 33. 164 C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1199-1299 (2003), 149; C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1300-1359 (2006), 67, 110. 165 Rotuli Hundredorum ,II, 277. 166 The Kingstons took their name from Kingston Bagpuize in Berkshire where they had a manor. VCH Berkshire 4, 349. 167 “…unam uirgatem terre cum pert. in Burthone quam habuimus ex maritagio [uxo]ris Roger de Kingestone , que fuit filia [domini] Nicholai de Limesy…” This land in Black Bourton had clearly been part of the marriage portion of Margery Murdac. H E Salter, ed., Cartulary of Oseney Abbey (1934), IV, 481. 168 CRR, 1233-37, 56 169 This manor was given to the abbey of Oseney by Ralph de Chesney but was sold to Joan’s husband by the abbot some time between 1205 and 1215. CCR, 1234-1237,175 ; Maxwell Lyte, Book of Fees (1920), 861; H E Salter, ed., Cartulary of Oseney Abbey (1934), IV, 464. 170 CRR, 1233-37, 51; Maxwell Lyte, Book of Fees (1920), 855. -204- LOST IN TIME

The descent of the Kingston family is hazy for the latter part of the thirteenth century. Henry de Kingston would appear to have died young, for in 1248 John de Kingston was purchasing land in Kingston Bagpuize171 and, as mentioned above, holding in Sutton Veney, Little Sutton and Great Sutton in 1274. He was probably dead by 1275 when John de Limesey was holding Pusey, possibly during the minority of the next heir, Sir John Kingston. In 1290 Sir John purchased an interest in the a messuage and two carucates of land in Kingston Bagpuize from William de Bagpuise in return for six marks rent per annum from his land in Sutton Veney tenanted by his kinsman, William de Wauton.172 Possessing estates in Berkshire, and Wiltshire worth over £20,173 Sir John was summoned for military service174 and followed a distinguished career in the service of Edward I, fighting the Welsh (1277 and 1282) and Scots (1298), becoming constable of Edinburgh castle in 1301, and one of the four temporary keepers of Scotland in 1305 until relieved by the king’s nephew, John of Brittany.175 He was rewarded for his administrative services in Scotland by the grant of the castle of Luffenock with all its lands, tenements and free warren in 1306.176 However, during the baronial rebellion caused by Edward II’s affection for Piers Gaveston, John, as a follower of the Earl of Lancaster, lost his lands in 1322 after Boroughbridge. On the accession of Edward III he was restored to favour as king’s knight and his lands returned, most of which John settled on his son Thomas and Maud, his wife, in 1332, and died in 1334 by which time he was constable of Bamburgh castle.177 His widow was Constance, one of the three daughters and coheirs of William de Ryddell, Lord of Tillmouth, Norhamshire.178 She subsequently remarried Sir William de Whitefeld, and thirdly before 1344 Sir Stephen de Cossington, and died in 1367 holding the manor of Twizel, and leaving her son Thomas de Kingston as her heir.179

171 VCH Berkshire, 4, 350. 172 R B Pugh, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines relating to Wiltshire for the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II (1939), 68-69. 173 He owned estates in Tidcombe, Sutton Veney, Little Sutton, Great Sutton, Little Corsley in Wiltshire, as well as Pusey in Oxfordshire, and Kingston Bagpuize, Aston and Compton in Berkshire. 174 He bore Sable, a lion rampant with a forked tail or. Gerard J Brault, Rolls of Arms of Edward I (1272-1307) (1997), 2, 243. 175 C Moor, Knights of Edward I (1929), 284-285. Sir John had a younger brother, Sir Nicholas of West Harnham, Wiltshire, (who bore Sable, a lion rampant with a forked tail or, a label gules) who died without issue around 1323 leaving John his heir, but as John’s estate was in the king’s hands by forfeiture, his widow Anastasia had to petition the king for her dower. CIPM VI, no. 426. She was daughter and heir of William Harden, and widow of Sir William de Lilburne of Co. Durham by whom she had a son, John. She remarried Robert de Bykemore, king’s escheator in the West Country, and died in 1353. CIPM X, no.506; Ethel Stokes, Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquistiones Post Mortem (1914), 256. 176 CChR, 1300-1326, 108. 177 Calendar of Memoranda Rolls, Michaelmas 1326-Michaelmas 1327 (1968), 373; CPR, 1377- 1381, 490; CFR, 1327-1337, 417. Thomas and Maud must have been very young at the time of the marriage contract. 178 He also possessed Twizel in Norham, of which castle was buried, Duddo, Old Grindon and two thirds of the manor of Upsetlington. He was Constable of Norham castle 1314-1316, constable of Newcastle upon Tyne 1317-1319, and constable of Durham castle 1319-1323. During the minority of Thomas de Beauchamp, William was also constable of Barnard castle 1319-1323. 179 She was born about 1307 and therefore much younger than her husband. Her elder sister Isabel was wife of Sir Alan de Clavering of Callaly, and her younger sister was wife of Sir LOST IN TIME -205-

The descent of the Kingston family from this point is well documented elsewhere down to Mary Kingston, wife of Sir Thomas de Lisle, who died without issue in 1539.180 Her heirs were her kin William Gorffyn, of Reading, Margery, wife of John Cope, of Canons Ashby in Northamptonshire, Katherine, wife of Sir Thomas Andrew of Charwelton, Northamptonshire, and Margaret, wife of Thomas Boughton of Causton, Warwickshire.181 Katherine and Margaret were daughters of Edward Cave of Stanford by Dorothy Mallory, daughter of Nicholas Mallory of Newbold Revel, Warwickshire (d.1513) and Katherine Kingston, aunt of Mary (Kingston) Lisle.182 Katherine Cave (d.1555) and Thomas Andrew had between them six children, Thomas, Roger, Edward, John, Anne and Ursula. The eldest son, Thomas, continued the Andrew line of Charwelton, and their daughter Ursula Andrew, was wife of Sir Thomas Haselrigg of Noseley, Leicestershire and is ancestor of this family, having living descendants.183 Margaret Cave and her husband Thomas Boughton were grandparents of Elizabeth Boughton, heiress of the Boughton family184 who married first Sir Richard Wortley of Wortley (d.1603), and secondly, before 1619, William Lord Cavendish of Hardwick, Earl of Devonshire.185 By her first husband she had three surviving children, Sir Francis Wortley of Wortley (1592-1652), Eleanor186 and Anne.187 These siblings have had over 4,000 known descendants, including Dukes of Norfolk, , Devonshire and Leeds, and Earls of Lichfield, Portarlington, Shrewsbury, Abingdon, Dumfries, Halifax, Carlisle, Portland, Perth etc. They also included notable individuals such as Sir Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of Great Britain 1955-1957, Bertrand Russell, the philosopher, Arthur Stanley, Governor of Australia, Sir Frederick Weld,

Gerard de Witherington. W Percy Hedley, Northumberland Families (1968), I, 163; William Hutchinson, History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham (1823), III, 504; National Archives C241/131; C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of feet of Fines relating to Gloucestershire 1300-1359 (2006), 126; National Archives SC 8/246/12286. 180 See VCH Wiltshire 8, 15-16, 65-68; VCH Berkshire, 4, 350. The line of descent is Thomas (d.1376), John (d. aft. 1414), Thomas (d. by 1428), Thomas (d.1505), John (d.v.p.1496), Mary (d.1539). 181 William Gorfynn died without issue in 1547, leaving his sister Alice as heir, who also died without issue leaving Margery wife of Thomas Boughton her heir. The couple sold Sutton Veney in 1552. 182 S V Mallory Smith, A History of the Mallory Family (1985), 118; Walter C Metcalfe, Visitations of Northamptonshire made in 1564 and 1618-19 (1887), 12. 183 Sir Thomas Haselrigg was living in 1605, but it was his son who provided information about his ancestry in 1619 to Camden. John Fetherston, ed., The Visitation of the County of Leicester in the year 1619 taken by William Camden (1870), 13. For the descent to the current owner of Noseley see Charles Mosley, ed., Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage (1999), 1356. For the descent of Andrew of Charwelton see Walter C Metcalfe, Visitations of Northamptonshire made in 1564 and 1618-19 (1887), 64; George Baker The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton (1826), I/II, 295-296. 184 John Fetherston, ed., The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the year 1619 taken by William Camden (1877), 83. 185 He died in 1625 aged 73, she died in 1642. CP IV, 339-340. 186 Wife of (1) Sir Henry Lee, of Quarrendon, 1st Baron, d.1631. They had issue. (2) 22 May 1634 Edward Radcliffe, 6th Earl of Sussex, Viscount FitzWalter, d.1641. (3) 1646 Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick d.1658. (4) Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester d.1671. 187 Wife of Sir Rotheram Willoughby of Muskham, from whom stemmed the Dixies of Bosworth Park. Her tomb inscription in the church at Selston appears in Robert Thoroton, The Antiquities of Nottinghamshire (1790), II, 266. -206- LOST IN TIME

Prime Minister of New Zealand, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, Proprietary Governor of Maryland (ancestor of George Washington Parke Custis, whose daughter was wife of General Robert E Lee), Clementine Churchill, as well as the Mitford sisters, daughters of the Second Baron Redesdale and their descendants.188 Murdac descendants: Margery 1. Margery Murdac + Nicholas de Limesey 2. Walter de Limesey + Maud 2. John de Limesey 2. Joan de Limesey + Sir Roger de Kingston d. 1233 3. Henry de Kingston d.s.p. 3. John de Kingston d. c. 1274 4. Sir John de Kingston d. 1334 + Constance Riddell 5. Sir Thomas de Kingston > 4. Sir Nicholas de Kingston d.s.p 1323 + Anastasia Harden

Denise Murdac Denise, presumably named after her mother Denise de Gundeville, was wife of Richard de Cromhall, tenant of the Berkeley family in Gloucestershire of a knight’s fee in Cromhall. His successor, also Richard, witnessed many charters of the Berkeley family and served as sheriff of Gloucestershire, as well as coroner in Gloucester in 1259. One such charter is a gift by Robert de Berkeley (d.s.p. 1220), son of Maurice fitz Harding by Alice de Berkeley, to Leonard Stanley priory for the health of the souls of himself and wife Juliana, the witnesses headed by John de Ballon, and including Bernard and Richard de Cromhall.189 In 1235 Richard acted as attorney for the 34 individuals being sued for dower by Margery, widow of John de Ballon, and occurs holding land in 1242 in Great Sutton with his co-parceners, and was the father or grandfather of Joan, on whom he settled four ploughlands in Cromhall and Alkerton in 1254 on her marriage with John de Walton.190 While William de London had conveyed his share of land in Sutton to his younger nephew Roger de Cromhall, whose son, John, was living in 1274, the Cromhall holding eventually passed to the Walton family by descent on the failure of the male line.191 In 1325 Sir William de Walton settled his estate on himself with remainders to his son John and his heirs in tail, with successive remainders to John’s brother, Andrew, then

188 I am grateful to Leo van de Pas for compiling this information from his database www.genealogics.org 189 The position of John de Ballon as head of witnesses is rather curious and may place the identity of Juliana as a Ballon, particularly as it is known that John had an aunt named Juliana. 190 CRR, 1233-1237, 1551; C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1199-1299 (2003), 104. 191 Sir William de Walton had licence to crenellate his mansion at Cromhall in 1311 and to have amends of bread and ale worth two shillings a year from his tenants in Alkerton. CPR, 1307- 1313, 346, 497. LOST IN TIME -207-

Williams’s siblings, John and Isabel.192 Twelve years later William de Walton of Cromhall settled the same estate on himself with remainder to Thomas his son and Elizabeth his wife, living in Horham, in tail with remainder to John son of William Gerald of Matson.193 By 1352 the reversion of this estate was inexplicably owned by Elias Daubeny and his wife Agnes, but was held by Thomas de Walton of Horham for his life. By 1351 the Daubeneys had sold their estate in Alkerton to James de Audley, and in 1359 their manor at Sutton Veney to Thomas Hungerford.194 No descent from this branch of the Walton family is apparent from this point. Murdac descendants: Denise 1. Denise Murdac + Richard de Cromhall 2. Richard de Cromhall, sheriff of Gloucester 3. Joan de Cromhall + John de Walton 4. William de Walton fl 1337 5. John de Walton d.s.p. by 1337 5. Andrew de Walton d.s.p. by 1337 5. Thomas de Walton fl. 1337 + Elizabeth 4. John de Walton fl. 1325 4. Isabel de Walton fl. 1325 2. Roger de Cromhall 3. John de Cromhall d.s.p. Florence Murdac Following her father’s religious leanings, Florence made arrangements for her own burial, donating 10 shillings rent from her holding in Sutton to Leonard Stanley Priory, with her body, for the light of the altar of the Virgin Mary, and for her soul and those of her ancestors and successors.195 Her husband, William de London, had the custody of Kidwelly castle in 1192 - presumably during the minority of Thomas de London - and held land there, which leads to the conclusion that he was of the same family as Thomas, lord of Kidwelly whose daughter, Hawise, married Patrick de Chaworth.196 William was also brother of Henry de London, Archbishop of Dublin who held a career in the king’s service as

192 C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1300-1359 (2006), 2 80. This estate consisted of /3 of a half of the manors of Sutton Veney, Little Sutton, a quarter of the manor of Cromhall and its advowson. 193 C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1300-1359 (2006) 121. The fact that Thomas was living in Horham places this family as a collateral line of Sir William de Walton of Thaxted and Horham, Essex. 194 C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1300-1359 (2006) 160; C R Elrington, ed., Abstracts of feet of Fines Relating to Wiltshire For the Reign of Edward III (1974) 100, 113. Their lands consisted of 3 messuages, 2 mills, 5 carucates of land, 24 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture, 60 acres of wood and 10 pounds rent in Sutton Veney, Little Sutton, Newnham, Crockerton, Bugely, and Warminster. This Elias Daubeney was perhaps a grandson of Elias Daubeny, seigneur of Landal (d.1305). 195 H C Maxwell Lyte, ed. A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds. (1902) 4, 49. The lack of mention of a husband is curious but may have occurred before her marriage. 196 Doris Stenton, ed., The Great Rolls of the Pipe of the Third and Fourth Years of the reign of King Richard the First (1926), 175. In 1229 William’s son, William de London was quit toll, passage and custom from this land which his father had held in Kidwelly. CChR, 1226-1257, 103. -208- LOST IN TIME justiciar of England and later Ireland.197 William’s focus of activity appears to have been in Nottinghamshire, as shown by a law suit of 1199. His father, Thomas de London, had succeeded at law against Gilbert de Arches for lands in Catliffe and la Haie, but had been dispossessed by Gilbert’s brother, Henry, while castellan of Tickhill Castle.198 In 1196 William rendered account for 100 shillings for half a knight’s fee and land held by in Nettleworth and Warsop, Nottinghamshire, and Tinsley, ,199 and as mentioned, he and his wife were involved in the suit against Amisia de Woodstock for Murdac land in Black Bourton in the year 1200. Florence survived her husband, William, who was dead by 1205 when Robert de Vipont was granted custody of the lands heirs of William de London “de Tynelawe” and the marriage of Florence.200 William was succeeded by his son, also William, whose career as a cleric flourished most likely under the patronage of his uncle Henry, becoming a prominent justice itinerant in the service of king Henry III, who referred to him as ‘our beloved clerk’.201 It was undoubtedly his knowledge of the legal system that was behind the collaborative final concords of his kin against John de Ballon in 1227. William is recorded in 1242-43, with Richard de Cromhall and Walter de Limesey, holding a knight’s fee in Wiltshire between them of Henry Huse.202 In 1227 he gave to his sister Eve, widow of Hugh le Bret, 20 shillings and a ploughland in Alkerton next to the land of Richard de Cromhall, to be held of William rendering a pair of gloves or 1 penny a year at Easter for all except foreign service.203 As mentioned above, in 1227 he conveyed his land in Sutton Veney to his cousin Roger de Cromhall, and in 1235 he also gave him his land in Little Sutton. William presented Ivo de London, presumably a kinsman, to the chapel at Tinsley in 1230, giving two thirds of the great and small tithes from his demesne in Tinsley as upkeep, and again presented Richard de Woodhall in 1239.204 William was dead without issue by 1249205 leaving his sisters as coheirs, the eldest being Denise.206 It was through her inheritance that her son, Sir Henry, as overlord of

197 Edward Foss, Biographica Juridica: A biographical dictionary of the judges of England from the, Conquest to the present time 1066-1870 (1870), 411. 198 Miscellanea Geneaologica et Heraldica, 4th series, 4, 58. 199 Doris Stenton, ed. The Chancellor’s Roll for the Eighth year of the Reign of King Richard the First, Michaelmas 1196 (1930), 269. How this land came to him is unknown, though probably was given to him by his uncle, Ralph Murdac, keeper of wardships, who held the custody of Maud, daughter and heiress of William de Luvetot, who had held 5 ½ fees of the honour of Tickhill in Sheffield and Worksop. Maud had livery of her lands in 1203. In 1196 the honour of Tickhill was given by Richard I to his brother John, Count of Mortain. Sanders op.cit. (1960), 147. 200 Rot. Chart., 156. Florence was still living in 1212 when she appears in a settlement in the curia regis between her sister and brother-in-law Nicholas de Limesey for her third share in Sutton, Strettington and Upmarden. CRR, 1210-1212, 364. 201 Edward Foss, op.cit. (1870), 412. 202 Maxwell Lyte, Book of Fees (1920), 718. Henry Huse was overlord of William Huse, (husband of Margery de Ballon, widow of John de Ballon I) in Wiltshire in 1242-43. 203 C.R Elrington, ed., Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1199-1299 (2003), 37. 204 A Hamilton Thompson, ed., Fasti Parochiales (1943) II, 139. 205 CCR, 1231-1234, 9. An undated inquisition for Nottinghamshire has survived outlining his holding in Nettleworth CIPM, I, no.157. 206 In 1292-3 the jurors of the Wapentake of Strafford found that Henry de Tinsley and Walter le Bret had held the vill of Tinsley of the heir of William de London, uncle of the said Henry, as partners in an inheritance, by the serjeanty of keeping a hawk, but Walter had alienated all LOST IN TIME -209-

Tinsley, took the name of Tinsley and held the chief moiety of lands in Nettleworth and Worksop. In 1249 Henry was still underage when an assise was called to determine the nature of the holding of Denise, wife of William Sweting, in Sutton,207 so that Adam Durant could call her for warranty. He called to warrant Roger de Cromhall, who in turn called to warrant William de London from whom he held, but William had died in the interim, but it was said that Eve sister of William, and Henry son of Denise, sister of William were the heirs of William. However Henry was underage and in the wardship of the queen so could not be called to warrant.208 In 1284 Henry de Tinsley, in a somewhat spurious suit instigated by his kinsman Walter le Bret, was sued for the whole de London inheritance claiming Henry was a bastard.209 Details from this suit give the information that William de London had four sisters, Denise, Eve, Eleanor and Isabel. The last was professed as a nun at Amesbury and Eleanor died without issue, leaving Henry de Tinsley, son of Denise, and Walter le Bret, as son of Richard le Bret, son of Eve, representatives of the two remaining sisters. Walter’s suit was unsuccessful, but was resolved shortly afterwards by his sale of his moiety of the estate to Sir Henry.210 For Walter le Bret his Yorkshire estate must have been an inconvenience situated so far away from his land in Pitchcomb, Gloucestershire, which had been settled on him by his father on his marriage with Nicola, daughter of Sir William Maunsel of Over Lypiatt, Gloucestershire.211 Later Walter sold away parcels of this land, some of which his grandmother, Eve de London, had held in dower, and between 1302-1303 sold considerable tenements and acreage to his kinsman William de Ballon of Alkerton. Walter and Nicola had a son Thomas, known variously as Thomas le Bret and Thomas de Holcombe, whose wife was Alice, but was dead without issue by 1311, and a daughter named Juliana, however there does not appear to be a line of descent from them.212 By the time Henry de Tinsley died, sometime after 1316,213 he had fathered at least two sons - William, who died without issue in 1321,214 leaving his brother Walter aged

his lands without royal licence. William Brown, ed. Yorkshire Lay Subsidy (1894), 79. Walter le Bret presented to Tinsley Chapel in 1287, after which the Wentworths had sole rights over the advowson until the mid 1400s. 207 Denise de London was wife of William or Walter Sweting, but it is uncertain whether he was the father of Henry de Tinsley. 208 CCR, 1249-1250, nos. 819, 2189. 209 Paul A Brand, ed., Earliest English Law Reports (1996) I, 179-180. 210 Sheffield Archives: Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments WWM/C/1/1 211 This estate was originally held of St Peter’s Gloucester by serjeanty of providing a squire with a horse to accompany a monk travelling on business to serve him and to carry upon his own horse the furniture of the monk's bed, also a book, cresset, candles, two loaves, and half a sextary of wine or beer. Robert B Patterson, ed., Original Acta of St Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester c.1122-1263 (1998), 137. 212 John Melland Hall, “Pynchenecumbe : Abstracts of Original Documents in the registers of the Abbey of St Peter, Gloucester” Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, XIV (1889-90): 144-162. The author assumed Eve, holding dower was his mother, but was in fact his grandmother. Walter le Bret also had a nephew named John de Caillewe. 213 When he is listed holding Tinsley of the honour of Tickhill in chief. H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids (1920), 6, 132. He also appears in 1302 in an inquest holding 4 bovates of land in Billingley of the monks of Blyth. R T Timson, ed., The Cartulary of Blythe Priory (1973) 468. 214 CIPM VI, no. 312. -210- LOST IN TIME

40 to 50 years and more his heir. Walter died around 1336 215 leaving two daughters as his heirs, apparently by his wife Agnes, daughter and coheiress of Hugh de Moeles.216 The elder daughter, Isabel, was wife of William de Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse, ancestor of the earls of Strafford, and brought to him the lordship of the manor of Tinsley, which remained in the family for many generations.217 The male line descent from Isabel de Tinsley and William Wentworth ended with William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford, who died without issue in 1695. However, it can be said with confidence that living descendants of his father Thomas Wentworth, the first earl, are legion, traced from his daughter, Lady Anne, wife of Edward Watson, 2nd Baron Rockingham.218 The younger daughter of Walter de Tinsley, Joan, was wife of John le Eyr of Chesterfield,219 and the couple left issue a daughter, also named Joan, who became wife of Bertram de Bolingbroke, son and heir of Sir John Bolingbroke.220 In an undated charter of the mid-fourteenth century William de Wentworth the elder, son of Isabel de Tinsley, quitclaimed to Joan, daughter of John le Eyr, all claim that he had in 100 shillings worth of rent in Sutton Veney, Wiltshire, with all wardships, marriages etc arising from it. If Joan died without issue then the rents would revert to his heirs.221 This holding in Sutton Veney had been subject of the final concord of 1227 between John de Ballon and the Murdac representatives. Joan de Bolingbroke evidently had issue, for there is a fine of 1371222 between Bertram de Bolingbroke and John son of Bertram de Bolingbroke conveying the manor of Ordsall and a moiety of the manor of Nettleworth in Nottinghamshire, and one messuage, one mill, one carucate of land, 16 acres of meadow and 24 acres of woodland in Greasborough and a moiety of the manor of Tinsley in Yorkshire.223 According to an account by Joseph Hunter224 this John de Bolingbroke had one son,

215 When his estates were partitioned between the two daughters and their husbands by fine. Sheffield Archives: Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments, WWM/C/1/4/1-2. I am grateful to Chris Phillips for the genealogical details he extracted from this document. Before succeeding to the Tinsley estate, Walter is recorded holding half a knight’s fee in Shelton in 1302/3. H C Maxwell Lyte, ed., Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids (1920), 6, 132. 216 An account of the family was published in Miscellanea Geneaologica et Heraldica, 4th series, 4, 131 by George Grazebrook. Unfortunately he misidentified the wife of William de London, but presented much in the way of contemporary documentation for their descendants. 217 The Yorkshire Subsidy Roll of 1379 shows William de Wentworth occurring with his wife Joan, assessed for a knight’s fee in the vill of Tinsley. Sheffield Archives: Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments. The Court rolls of Tinsley presided over by the Wentworth family continue until 1753. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/SubsidyRolls/WRY/Rotherham.html 218 From whom descended the Earls FitzWilliam of Norborough now extinct, but with living descendants of the eighth earl. See Leo van de Pas’ Genealogics website www.genealogics.org 219 Joan appears to have been married secondly to Hugh de Tothill. Sheffield Archives: Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments, WWM/C/1/4/1-2. 220 In 1347 Sir John Bolingbroke presented Nicholas son of William de Wentworth to the church of Tinsley. Joseph Hunter, South Yorkshire (1831), II, 32. 221 Lewis C Loyd & Doris Mary Stenton, eds., Sir Christopher Hatton’s Book of Seals (1950), 122. 222 W Pailey Baildon, ed., Feet of Fines for the County of York from 1347-1377 (1915), 229. 223 Bertram and Joan were living in 1354 when they granted to Walter de Elmton and Joan, his wife, land in Brampton and other places. J P Yeatman, Feudal History of the County of (1886), III, section V, 18. 224 Joseph Hunter, op.cit., II, 32. Hunter reluctantly takes his account of the early history of the Wentworth family from Gascoigne, a kinsman of the first earl of Strafford, who fabricated a hereditary descent of the Wentworths from a John de Busli via Florence de Maieroles. LOST IN TIME -211-

John, who died without issue, and two daughters, Elizabeth wife of John Bozon, and Joan, wife of William Denman of Newhall Grange in Wath. By 1452 Joan’s moiety of the Tinsley lands had passed to Thomas Denman of East Retford who presided over the manorial court at Tinsley in partnership with Thomas Wentworth, suggesting Elizabeth had died without issue.225 A pedigree of the Denman family from Joan de Bolingbroke down to 1585 is given by Hunter.226 Tinsley remained in the possession of the Wentworth and Denman families for a considerable time, finally passing in entirety to the descendants of Anne Wentworth - the earls of Rockingham. Murdac descendants: Florence 1. Florence Murdac fl. 1212 + William de London d.c. 1205 2. William de London, Justiciar d.s.p.1249 2. Denise de London + NN 3. Sir Henry de Tinsley d aft 1316 4. William de Tinsley d.s.p. 1321 4. Walter de Tinsley d. c. 1336 5. Isabel de Tinsley fl. 1336 + William de Wentworth fl. 1336 6. William de Wentworth > + Joan 5. Joan de Tinsley + John Eyre d. bef 1336 6. Joan Eyre + Bertram de Bolingbroke 7. John de Bolingbroke 8 John de Bolingbroke 8. Elizabeth de Bolingbroke + John Bozon 8. Joan de Bolingbroke > + William Denman + Hugh de Tothill + William/Walter Sweting 2. Eve de London + Hugh le Bret d. by 1227 3. Richard le Bret 4. Walter le Bret + Nicola Maunsel 5. Thomas le Bret 5. Juliana le Bret 2. Isabel de London, nun at Amesbury 2. Eleanor de London d.s.p.

225 Sheffield Archives: Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments, WWM/C/1/13. Sometime between 1486-1493 John Denman sued Robert Gill for detention of deeds of his lands in, amongst other places, half the manor of Nettleworth, half the manor of Tinsley, with the advowson of the chapel of St. Laurence there, Little Sutton and Veny Sutton, Wiltshire and Greasbrough, which must have descended by inheritance as a parcel. National Archives, C 1/130/29. In 1555/56 Nicholas Denman was the co-parcener and is named as such in the Tinsley court rolls. 226 Joseph Hunter, South Yorkshire (1831), II, 75. -212- LOST IN TIME

Acknowledgements I am very grateful to Chris Phillips for his kind assistance, perception and constructive comments.

Bibliography Baildon, W Pailey, ed. Feet of Fines for the County of York from 1347-1377. Leeds: The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1915. (Record Series; no.52). Baker, George. The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton. London: John Nichol and Son, 1822-1841. Bird, W H B & W P Baildon, eds. Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Dean and Chapter of Wells. London, HMSO, 1907-1914. Brand, Paul A, ed. Earliest English Law Reports. London: Selden Society, 1996. Brault, Gerard J ed. Rolls of Arms of Edward I (1272-1307). Woodbridge: Boydell Press for The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1997. Brown, R Allen, ed. The Memoranda Roll for the Tenth Year of the Reign of King John. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1957. Brown, William, ed. Yorkshire Lay Subsidy. York: Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1894. Chester, W ed. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twelfth year of the Reign of king Henry II. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1888. Clanchy, M T, ed., Civil Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre, 1249. Wiltshire Record Society, 26. Clark, Andrew, ed. The English register of Godstow Nunnery, near Oxford. London; English Text Society, 1905. Cokayne, G E et al. The Complete Peerage. 2nd. edn. London, St Catherine Press, 1910-1959. [CP] Cooke, William Henry, ed., Collections towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford, in continuation of Duncumb’s History, vol.3. London: John Murray, 1882. Courteney, Paul. “The Marcher Lordships : Origins, Descent and Organization”. In The Gwent County History: vol. 2, the Age of the Marcher Lords, c. 1070-1536. ed. Ralph A Griffiths et al., Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2008. Crawley-Boevey, A W. The Cartulary and Historical Notes on the Cistercian Abbey of Flaxley. Exeter: The Author, 1887. Crouch, David. “The Transformation of Medieval Gwent.” In The Gwent County History: vol. 2, the Age of the Marcher Lords, c. 1070-1536, ed. Ralph A Griffiths et al., Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2008. Davis, H W C, ed. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1066-1154. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. Devine, Mary, ed. The Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey. Oxford. Oxford University Press, 1977. Dryburgh, Paul & Beth Hartland, eds. Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the Reign of Henry III. Vol 1 1216-1224. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2007. Dugdale, William, ed. Monasticon Anglicanum. London: Longman, 1817-1830. Dugdale, William. The Baronage of England. London: Roper, Martin and Herringman, 1675. Elrington, C R, ed. Abstracts of feet of Fines Relating to Wiltshire For the Reign of Edward III. Devizes: Wiltshire Record Society, 1974. Elrington, C R, ed. Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1199-1299. Bristol: Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 2003. LOST IN TIME -213-

Elrington, C R, ed. Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire, 1300-1359. Bristol: Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 2006. Eyton, Robert William. Court, Household, and Itinerary of King Henry II. London: Taylor & Co., 1878. Fetherston, John, ed. The Visitation of the County of Leicester in the year 1619 taken by William Camden. London: Harleian Society, 1870. Fetherston, John, ed. The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the year 1619 taken by William Camden. London: Harleian Society, 1877. Fleming, Lindsay, ed. The Chartulary of Boxgrove Priory. Lewes; Sussex Record Society, 1960. Fosbroke, Thomas Dudley. Abstracts of Records and Manuscripts Relating to the County of Gloucester. Gloucester, 1807. Foss, Edward. Biographica Juridica: A biographical dictionary of the judges of England from the, Conquest to the present time 1066-1870. London: J. Murray, 1870 [reprinted 1999]. Galbraith, V H and James Tait, eds. Herefordshire Domesday. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1950. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 63). Grazebrook, George. “Descent in the Male Line of the Family of Grazebrook from 1065, with Proofs for each generation”. Miscellanea Geneaologica et Heraldica, 4th series, 4 (1912), 131. Green, Emmanuel. Pedes Finium commonly called Feet of Fines for the County of Somerset, Richard 1- Edward 1. London: Somerset Record Society, 1892. Hedley, W Percy. Northumberland Families. Gateshead: The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle on Tyne, 1968. Hall, Hubert, ed. Red Book of the Exchequer. Rolls series. London: HMSO, 1896. Hall, John Melland. “Pynchenecumbe: Abstracts of Original Documents in the registers of the Abbey of St Peter, Gloucester.” Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, XIV (1889-90): 144-162. Hobbs, Steven, ed. The Cartulary of Forde Abbey. Taunton: Somerset Record Society, 1998. Hunt, William, ed. Two chartularies of the Priory of St Peter at Bath. London: Somerset Record Society, 1893. Hunter, Joseph. South Yorkshire, 1828. [Facsimile edn., Wakefield: EP Publishing, 1974]. Hutchins, John, ed. The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edn. Westminster: Nichols and Sons, 1873. Hutchinson, William. History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham. Durham: G Walker, 1823. Jackson, John Alexander, Pipe Roll 1 Richard I; a partial translation, database and statistical review. PhD dissertation, Appalachian State University, 1999. Jenkinson, Hilary, ed. Calendar of the Plea rolls of the exchequer of the Jews preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol III, Edward I 1275-1277. London: Spottiswoode Ballantyne, 1929. Johnson, C, ed. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum II, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956. Keats-Rohan, K S B. Domesday Descendants, a prosopography of persons occurring in English documents 1066-1166. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2002. [DD] Kemp, B R & D M M Shorrocks, eds. Medieval Deeds of Bath and District. Somerset Record Society, 1974. Kirby, J L, ed. The Hungerford Cartulary. Trowbridge: Wiltshire Record Society, 1994. London, Vera C M, ed. The Cartulary of Canonsleigh Abbey. Torquay: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1965. -214- LOST IN TIME

London, Vera C M, ed. The Cartulary of Bradenstoke Priory. Devizes: Wiltshire Record Society, 1979. Loyd, Lewis C & Doris Mary Stenton, eds. Sir Christopher Hatton’s Book of Seals. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950. Maitland, F W, ed. Bracton’s Note Book. London: C J Clay & Sons, 1887. Mallory Smith, S V. A History of the Mallory Family. Chichester: Phillimore, 1985. Maxwell Lyte, H C, ed. A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds in the Public Record Office. London: HMSO, 1890-1915. Maxwell Lyte, H C, ed. Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids; with other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office. London: HMSO, 1899-1920. Maxwell Lyte, H C, ed. The Book of Fees commonly called Testa de Nevill. London: HMSO, 1920-1931. Metcalfe, Walter C, ed. Visitations of Northamptonshire made in 1564 and 1618-19. London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1887. Moor, C. Knights of Edward I. London: Harleian Society, 1929-1932. Mosley, Charles, ed. Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edn. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. Palgrave, Francis. Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons. London: The , 1827. Patterson, R B, ed. Earldom of Gloucester Charters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972. Patterson Robert B, ed. Original Acta of St. Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester c. 1122-1263. The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 1998. Pollock, Frederick and Frederic Maitland. History of English Law before the time of Edward I. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. Pugh, R B, ed. Abstracts of Feet of Fines relating to Wiltshire for the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II. Devizes, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1939. Reedy, W T, ed. Basset Charters c.1120-1250. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1995. Reichel, Oswald J, ed. Devon feet of Fines, Richard I-Henry III, 1196-1272. Exeter: The Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1912. Rigg, J M, ed. Calendar of the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews preserved in the Public Record Office. London: Jewish Historical Society of England, 1905. Riley, Henry T, trans. The Annals of Roger de Hoveden. London: Bohn, 1853. Ross, C D, ed. The Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey, Gloucestershire. London: Oxford University Press, 1964. Round, J Horace, ed. Calendar of Documents Preserved in France. Vol 1. London: HMSO, 1899. Round, J Horace. Studies in Peerage and Family History. London: Tabard Press, 1901. Round, J Horace, ed. Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de XII Comitatibus [1185]. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1913. Round, J Horace, ed. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twenty Seventh Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second 1180-1181 London: Pipe Roll Society, 1909. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 30). Round, J Horace, ed. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twenty Eighth Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second 1181-1182 London: Pipe Roll Society, 1910. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 31). Salter, H E, ed., Cartulary of Oseney Abbey. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930-1936. Salter, H E, ed., Eynsham Cartulary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907. LOST IN TIME -215-

Salzmann, L F., “The Family of Aguillon”. Sussex Archaeological Collections, 79 (1938): 45-60. Salzmann, L F, ed., An Abstract of the Feet of Fines relating to the County of Sussex from 2 Richard I to 33 Henry III. Lewes: Sussex Record Society, 1902. Sanders, I J, English Baronies: a study of their origin and descent 1086-1327. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960. Slade, C F, ed. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twelfth year of the reign of King John Michaelmas 1210. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1951. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 64). Stenton, Doris M, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Second Year of the reign of King Richard the First, Michaelmas 1190. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1925. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 39). Stenton, Doris M, ed. The Great Rolls of the Pipe of the Third and Fourth Years of the reign of King Richard the First. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1926. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 40). Stenton, Doris M, ed. The Chancellor’s Roll for the Eighth year of the Reign of King Richard the First, Michaelmas 1196. London Pipe Roll Society, 1930. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 45). Stenton, Doris M, ed. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Fifth year of the reign of King John, Michaelmas 1203. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1938. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 54). Stenton, Doris M, ed. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Eleventh Year of the Reign of King John, Michaelmas 1209. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1949. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 62). Stenton, Doris M, ed., The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Thirteenth year of the reign of King John Michaelmas 1211. London: Pipe Roll Society, 1953. (Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 66). Stenton, Doris M, ed. Pleas Before the King or his Justices, 1198-1212. London: Selden Society, 1967. Stevenson, Janet H, ed., The Durford Cartulary. Lewes: Sussex Record Society, 2006. Stokes, Ethel. Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquistiones Post Mortem. Devizes: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1914. Stokes, Ethel, ed., Warwickshire Feet of Fines 1195-1284 London: Oxford University Press for Dugdale Society, 1932. (Publications of the Dugdale Society no.11) Thompson, A Hamilton, ed. Fasti Parochiales. York: The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1943. Thoroton, Robert. The Antiquities of Nottinghamshire. Ed. & enl. by John Throsby. Leicester: John Throsby, 1790. Timson, R T, ed. The Cartulary of Blythe Priory. London: HMSO, 1973. Walker, David, ed. The Cartulary of St Augustine’s Abbey, Bristol. Bristol: Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 1998. Watkin, Aelred, ed. The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury. Frome: Somerset Record Society, 1956. Weaver, F W, ed., A Feodary of Glastonbury Abbey. London: Somerset Record Society, 1910. Yeatman, J P. Feudal History of the County of Derby. London: Bemrose & Sons, 1886.